Hoops Hooray! -- a Crafty Sundays Review

Disclosure: Leisure Arts sent me a copy of this book in return for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. 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!

Hoop art is extremely popular these days. It is so easy and fun to do too. I don't know if you ever caught any of the ones I featured in Crafty Weekends in the past. There have definitely been some creative and beautiful ideas shared! Today I am going to share a book with tutorials to make your own hoop art. It is Hoops Hooray! by Ashley Millhouse.

Twists, Braids & Ponytails -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Quarto Knows sent me this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I will admit this is not a total craft this week, but it does have some creativity and with the week I have had, this is the best I  could do. Hazel loves having her dolls hair look nice. However she has not really mastered braids or doing hair yet. I got her (and me) this book to get some ideas and learn new tricks to do. It is Twists, Braids, & Ponytails by Joel Benjamin. 

The Sewing Book -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party #NationalSewingMonth

Disclosure: DK Publishing sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links where I will receive a small portion of any purchases made through them. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

Did you know that September is National Sewing Month? For free sewing projects be sure to check out NationalSewingMonth.org. It only seems right to share an amazing sewing resource with you in September. I am going to share a book that is amazing for the beginner sewer or for people who want to improve their sewing skills like myself. It is the new edition of The Sewing Book by Alison Smith. 

Origami Fun -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing sent me these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Want to learn origami? Or have your kids learn it? I have some great kits and books for you today for different levels of origami makers from beginner to master. Look at some of the fun things I made with these products.

NEW this week--Middle grade books Plus a GIVEAWAY!

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Yesterday I shared two new this week picture books and today I have two new this week middle grade novels to share. Middle grade novels have a recommendation for ages 7 to 12. One of the books is a mystery having to do with sports and the other is a multicultural book about family, friends, and math. Plus there is a giveaway for one of them. We are going to start with Danny Chung Sums It Up by Maisie Chan and illustrated by Natelle Quek. This book is recommended for ages 8-12.

DIY Flower Wreath & Crafty Weekends Link Party

A few weeks ago I was in one of the craft stores and checked out the flower summer wreaths. I couldn't believe how expensive they were so I looked at supplies. I found this twig wreath and two flower stems on sale. Since our front door gets so much sun that hot glue melts, I used wire to secure the flowers. I cut the stems of the flowers and stuck the stems into the spaces in the wreath. Once I got the flowers arranged how I liked them, I wrapped the wire tightly around the stems and hid them with the flowers and leaves. I added a ribbon to hang it and now have the perfect wreath for my red door.

Sharing Saturday #33

Special announcement: I was quoted in an article at Ballooning Nest Eggs. Please go check it out!! I'm so excited!

I have spent the last two days in bed, but crawled out to check out last week's shared posts, and WOW is all I have to say. If you have not checked them out in awhile, definitely go visit some. There are so many great ideas!!

We had a tie for most clicked:

From April's Homemaking: Jonah and the Whale 

and From Happy Whimsical Hearts: Making Bells

Now a few of my favorites:

I always love to see new creative ways to color and paint! Check these out:

1) From Tutus and Tea Parties (with Megan from Posies to Petals Guest Posting): No Sew Busy Book

2) From Learn with Play @ Home: Painting with Seasoning & Spices

3) From Life with Moore Babies: Painting with Watercolors & Salt

Then with it being summer and the Olympics ending, these caught my eye:

1) From Taming the Goblin: Cardboard Crane (Oooh, Hazel would love one of these!)

2) From PlayDrMom: Mario Power Lemonade Stand (Such creativity and fun!)

3) From Brenna Phillips: The Three Little Pigs' Houses (Another one Hazel would love!)

4) From Learning To Be a Mom: Toddler Rhythmic Gymnastics-- Hoop (So fun and cute!)

5) From We Made That: DIY Sprinkler (So clever and looks refreshing!)

6) From JDaniel4's Mom: Olympic Values- Friendship (What great lessons tied to the Olympics!)

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: Teddy Bear Picnic from 3 posts

  Ear Headband Tutorial, Food, And Activities

  Now for This Week's Party  

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1)  Please follow both hosts via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

Hosts are Crafty Moms Share and Mama Mia's Heart2Heart. A reminder: Mia is taking a blogging break. Hopefully she will be back soon to host again!!

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All right everyone...This is a PARTY!! Have Fun!!

Crafty Weekends

This week I am not ready to write a review of one of the craft books. Most of my crafting this week happened at work, and I did not get a chance to get a picture. So this week we are going straight to the party!!

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at last party!! It was full of creations and inspiring ideas!! Below are some features from the party, but this is just a small sample of great ideas shared! This week the features are in three groups: Decorative & Useful, Fabric Crafts and Paper Crafts. 

Also remember for your child-oriented crafts, activities, lessons, etc. Sharing Saturday is going on!! For any cultural related posts (diversity and/or multicultural as well) be sure to share at the month long Creative Kids Creative Blog Hop. 

Organizing My Rubber Stamps & More -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: As a Thirty-One Independent Consultant I will receive a percentage of purchases through these links.

So it has been a bit of a busy week. We have put up our Christmas tree. Had breakfast with my mother-in-law on Black Friday to celebrate Thanksgiving and attended a Celebration of Life for a very special friend. Today I am going to share the beginning of my organization of my rubber stamp supplies. I have struggled with a good way to organize them so they will be more usable. I turned to Thirty-One to organize them. Thirty-One came out with a Get Creative line this fall. I have slowly been collecting things from them for display but realized they would be wonderful to help me organize my craft supplies. This time I focused on my rubber stamp supplies, but they could work for so many different crafts. The first most amazing item is the Get Creative Crate. This however is a hostess exclusive, so the only way to get it is to host a $200 or more party. If you want to host an on-line party, send me an e-mail. 

Origami Bible Stories for Kids Kit -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this kit in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Well school has started here and Mother Nature has turned the switch to fall weather. But after a few weeks off from Crafty Weekends we are back!! Today I am sharing a fun origami kit perfect for Sunday School and Bible lessons for kids. It is Origami Bible Stories for Kids Kit by Andrew Dewar. 

Zen Origami Coloring Kit -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing sent me this kit in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Today I am sharing a fun kit that combines two of our favorite things--coloring and origami!! The kit is Zen Origami Coloring Kit by Nick Robinson. Two relaxing activities combined into one. The kit is no longer available but can be purchased used. 

Being Creative

Every once in awhile I feel the need to create. Does that ever happen to you? It happens when I have let life get in the way and I don't feel like I have had time to make something on my own or my own design. Tonight was one of those nights. As I was trying to create some order out of the chaos my craft area is right now, I came up with an idea this afternoon. And tonight I decided I wanted to take the time to do it.

Hazel has started asking us to tell her stories after we read some books to her. Sometimes I tell her a watered down version of a fairy tale and sometimes I make one up. The made up ones don't have to be anything to difficult or too long. In fact I like the made up ones since they are short. Lately I have been telling her one about a princess who lives in a pink castle surrounded by beautiful flowers and then there are dark woods. In the woods there are many creatures including unicorns. The story is about the first time the princess meets a unicorn. The princess always plays in the woods and brings food to feed all the animals. One day when she is playing hide and seek with a rabbit she ventures to a part of the woods she has never been and runs into a mother and baby unicorn by a small pond. She realizes she doesn't know the way home from where she is. She offers the unicorns some apples that she had in her pocket and the mother gives her a ride back to her castle. After that they play every day together.

So my creation (perhaps I've been inspired by April at April's Homemaking and her 52 Weeks of Fairy Tales and the craft to go with each one). I decided to needle felt a picture of the castle, gardens, woods and unicorns.

I needle felted it onto a piece of white wool felt just for stability. I also used a embroidery hoop for the frame and used it to size the picture.

So, what do you think?

Speaking of creativity, Sharing Saturday is still open through Wednesday and there are over 100 creative entries. Please go check them out!!

Hazel and I are off to visit my parents for a few days so my posts may be sporadic and without pictures. First we are stopping to visit my longest time friend since she brought her daughter (my goddaughter) to visit a nearby college.  We have been friends since we were 6-months-old!! It will be good to see her.

Crafty Weekends Link Party

I am away for the Thirty-One Conference this week, so we are going straight to our party! It was a small party (after all it is summer), so there are only a few!! Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party.  Just a reminder that we do not feature any of the food/recipe posts and ask you not to share them here. There were some great ideas shared. Below are a few of the features from our last party, but be sure to go back and check out the many great crafts shared! Please remember Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place to share all your diverse and cultural posts there.  I can't wait to see what your latest creations are!!

Paper Flowers Chinese Style a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Tonight I am sharing with you a fun book to make beautiful paper flowers. It is Paper Flowers Chinese Style by Liu Fang and Yue Yunyun. Now Hazel loves making flowers but has not explored this book with me. 

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.

Crafty Weekends

It is school vacation week here, so I have been focusing on family time and haven't got a craft to share or product to review. So it is time to see what you have been creating!  Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party.  There were some great ideas shared. Below are a few of the features from our last party, but be sure to go back and check out the many great crafts shared! A new Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop started today so go share all your diverse and cultural posts there.   I can't wait to see what your latest creations are!!

Crafty Weekends Link Party

Let's party!! It was a small party (after all it is summer), so there are only a few!! Since our numbers are dwindling and my focus is on back to school for Hazel, I'm going to have this the last one until the week after Labor Day! Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party.  Just a reminder that we do not feature any of the food/recipe posts and ask you not to share them here. There were some great ideas shared. Below are a few of the features from our last party, but be sure to go back and check out the many great crafts shared! Please remember Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place to share all your diverse and cultural posts there.  I can't wait to see what your latest creations are!!

Sew Yourself a Merry Little Christmas -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure:C&T Publishing sent me an e-version of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 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!


As we are getting ready for the holidays, I wanted to do a bit of holiday sewing. Tonight I am reviewing a great quilt book. It is Sew Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Mary Hertel. 

Sharing Saturday 15-17

Thank  you to everyone who shared last week!! Once again I am amazed by all the great ideas! These features are just a sampling of the posts shared. I hope you will go and check them all out! This week our features consist of  Gardening and Bees, Booking Across America, and Some Favorites. 

Pumpkins and Potters Wheel -- Crafty Weekends Crafts & Link Party

This has been a bit of a crazy week and weekend. Last weekend we met my sister at Old Sturbridge Village and discovered our admission fee got us a second trip within ten days, so we went back today. Hazel was very excited when we discovered that one of the hands-on crafts that you could pay to do was making a bowl on a potters wheel. She always wanted to use a potters wheel, so we splurged and let her make a bowl today. I had wanted to have her use a potters wheel back when we looked at Juan Quezada, but didn't find a good option. You can see some of the photos above of her dish and her making it.