Happening in September here at Crafty Moms Share

It is another busy month here at Crafty Moms Share. September is National Sewing Month. We are helping promote the Waverize It! Facebook Contest sponsored by Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts and Waverly Fabrics. To do this, I made Hazel a ukulele case so she can take her relatively new ukulele anywhere she wants to. She has already played at our public library and Trader Joe's Store. She has been asked to play at school and church as well. She loves playing it. You can learn more about it all here including some videos of her playing.

September is also Hunger Action Month. I am joining a group of wonderful blogging moms to help No Kid Hungry try to end hunger for our local children. My first step was to put together some story time food drive ideas and I sent them to local libraries and preschools. I hope someone is using them. You can read about them here and feel free to use them or send them to people as well. We also hosted a butterfly party where we asked guests to bring a can or two of healthy food for our local food pantry. Stay tuned for more ways we are helping and please accept my challenge to help in your local area as well!!



September also is the month of the first anniversary of the amazing group of bloggers Multicultural Kid Blogs. Stay tuned for more events to celebrate this as well.

September 15th to October 15th is National Hispanic Heritage Month. I am joining some of the bloggers in Multicultural Kid Blogs to celebrate this as well.

Around the World in 12 Dishes is "traveling" to New Zealand this month. Hazel and I have already started enjoying some New Zealand stories.



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The Virtual Book Club for Kids is continuing for another year. There are a few changes. This year the blog hop will begin the second Monday of each month and there is a change in who is hosting. This month's author is Bill Martin, Jr.

 Hosting the Virtual Book Club for Kids this year are:

The Educators' Spin On It -  Toddler Approved  -         3 Dinosaurs - Learn~Play~Imagine -  Crafty Moms Share - Reading Confetti  - Inspiration Laboratories - Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas - Kids Yoga Stories - Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Ready-Set-Read - Boy Mama Teacher Mama  

I hope you will join us for all of these fun-filled events this month!! Plus we will have our regular events--Fairy Tales in Different Cultures, Flamingo Friday, Sharing Saturday, Math Lessons, and Virtual Flat Stanley!

Sharing Saturday 17-51

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!! 

Baker's Passport--Product Review

Disclosure: I was sent this product to review free of charge from Baker's Passport. 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 am going to share with you a wonderful experience and together time. Hazel and I tried Baker's Passport Little Bites in Spanish this weekend. We had so much fun. Now I will admit this is definitely meant for slightly older children (who can read and write), but we had fun reviewing our Spanish and baking cookies. Baker's Passport sends you a little packet that includes the recipe with Spanish lessons built in. The Spanish is the numbers, colors and some other phrases. They have places to read and write in the Spanish as well as trace some words. They offer Little Bites in Spanish, French and Japanese and I get to give one of each away, so three winners!!

We got to work. First of course the instructions are to wash your hands. We also put on our aprons (and Hazel put on her hat). Then we got right to work. Here are some pictures of Hazel softening the butter (in the microwave), measuring the brown sugar, mixing and scooping the cookies.

Then there were places with Spanish lessons like matching, a crossword and just vocabulary. Plus all the steps were numbered in Spanish. And the answers are available on their website, so you do not have to know the language to make sure you are doing it correctly!

 Now this was a fun day of baking and learning. Even if you do not bake often or like to bake, this is a fun and easy recipe to follow. The instructions are very clear and easy to do. Oh, and I should mention that we all loved the cookies. They were gobbled right up and Hazel insisted on bringing some to Nonni's since she was going there for her weekly playdate with her grandmother.

 

The even better part of Baker's Passport is for every purchase $1 is donated to Action Against Hunger. So there are three positives with every purchase, learning, baking and helping. Now if you do not want to wait for the giveaway to end, you can get 15% off today on your purchase with the code: BAKINGFUN14. This code is only good through February 7, 2014. 

Now for our fun giveaway!! Please follow our Giveaway Rules and do what the Rafflecopter asks. There will be three winners!! Each winner will get one of the Little Bites.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Picture Books about Amazing Women

 

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

I love Women's History Month because it gives me time to focus on some amazing women and learn more about them. However, I also know there people out there that do not have the time to research these women, and sometimes you just want a book to read that will help celebrate the month. Today I get to share three picture books about three amazing women that will be instant role models for children. The women are Kip Tiernan, Betrice Shilling and Daphne Caruana Galizia. Come learn about these books and a bit about the women. I will share some ideas of ways to expand these on these books as well. We will start with Kip Tiernan. The book is called Sanctuary: Kip Tiernan and Rosie's Place, the Nation's First Shelter for Women by Christine McDonnell and illustrated by Victoria Tentler-Krylov. It is recommended for ages 7 to 10. 

2022 is the Year of the Tiger--Tiger Fun Facts & Craft Round-Up

 

The lunar new year begins on February 1, 2022. Many countries celebrate the lunar new year and see it as one of the most important holidays of the year. I have shared about different countries and different celebrations over the years. I always enjoy checking out the Chinese horoscope that goes with it. The legend says that the Jade Emperor wanted twelve animals to be his guard. He sent an immortal to tell the animals and they raced to the Jade Emperor. The first twelve animals became his guard and are the animals of the Chinese Horoscope. This year we are on the third animal of the horoscope, the tiger. 

Sharing Saturday #36

This morning I had to go for a routine fasting blood test. So I was awoken and knew I couldn't eat anything for a couple of hours. I always hate going for these blood tests because I always feel so hungry. However then I remember the poor children in the United States (and around the world) who are often hungry. The most recent statistic says it is one in five in the US that are not fed enough. Imagine having to try to focus, function and learn without enough food. I find it so hard. This month I'm joining other bloggers and moms to help fight hunger. I posted about it here (and will post more in the future) and you can click the button to the right or below for more information or to join us!

Ok, now on to Sharing Saturday. Last week was an amazing week and there are so many wonderful ideas shared!! I hope you will take some time to visit a few more and leave some comment love. Here are a few of my favorites!!

From Little Wonders Days: Beach Friendship Bracelets

In the United States we celebrated Labor Day on Monday. This is our unofficial end of summer and often the start of the school year. I am not completely ready to let go over summer so here are some summer features. (I also added a few of the must-see ones to this list, so please check them out!)

1) From Learning Ideas - Grades K-8: Fish Word Search and Activities

2) From Sunny Day Today Mama: Picnic Party Nature Walk Favor Bags (LOVE this!! She shared 3 posts on this party and all of them could be here!)

3) From One Creative Mommy: Felt Popsicles

4) From Waldorf by Me: Summer Nature Table

5) From Little Wonders' Days: Summer Vacation Memory Jars

6) From Tippytoe Crafts: Handprint Palm Trees

7) From Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk: Painting with Pokeweed and Pine Needles

8) From Earning My Cape: Toddler Flip Flop Makeover (So cute!!)

9) From Like Mama ~ Like Daughter: Nana's Beach Party

10) From Nestled Under Rainbows: Prayer Flags

11) From We Made That: Magic Tree (Oh, so neat!!)

12) From Pam's Party Planning & Practical Tips: Kara's Wishing Stars

But since it is the start of school here are some school-related features.

1) From A Happy Song: First Day Of School Blackboard

2) From Art Mama Says: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Alphabet Tree

3) From One Creative Mommy: Be Happy Friend Maker

4) From Earning My Cape: Homeschool vs. Traditional School (A great reminder that we each have to choose what is best for our children and family!)

5) From A Happy Song: Chain Letters

6) From Pinkoddy: Can I have a P Please

7) From Brenna Phillips: Water and Penny Experiment

8) From 2 Big, 2 Little: Painted Fingernail Counting

9) From Toastie Studios: Mini Ribbon Paper Clips

10) From Keitha's Chaos: First Day of 1st Grade (Love some of these traditions!)

11) Not Pictured: From Life on the Gravelly Road: The Letter F

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: My first Waldorf Doll and she if finally dressed!

 

Now for This Week's Party   

A Few Simple Guidelines:
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!!

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post.

3) Post the button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

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4. Optional: Like us on Facebook and Google+
Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share and Mama Mia's Heart2Heart permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest. 

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

Sharing Saturday #37

Have you entered my current giveaway? You can win a copy of the fantastic book, Show Me a Story by Emily K. Neuburger. This is a must for anyone who wants to help develop their child's imagination and storytelling skills!

Don't forget to visit Dine Out for No Kid Hungry and check out the deals at your local restaurants to help end childhood hunger!!

Did you stop by and check out the great ideas shared last week? I did, and I must tell you I'm still in awe!! I have several features, but first want to apologize for the lateness of this post. I have my oldest and dearest friend visiting tonight and we went for a girls dinner out. (We have been friends since we were six-months-old!) Needless to say it is great to see her and we have been catching up a bit, especially since she arrived after Hazel was asleep so we could have some grown up time. Ok, on to this week's features.

I am finally starting to feel like fall so here are a few apple features!

1) From Reading Confetti: Paper Plate Apple Tree

2) From Repeat Crafter Me: Plastic Bottle Apples

3) From Annie One Can Cook!: Apple Pecan Pie Bars

4) From Tippytoe Crafts: Wormy Apples

Did you know that September is National Sewing Month? In honor of that here are a few sewing (and knitting) features as well as one of my favorites!

1) From Rae Gun Rambling: Princess Dress Bustle Skirt Tutorial

2) From About Blogging Time: The Elephant Softie

3) From Frontier Dreams: Kitten Mittens

4) From Earning My Cape: Tunisan Stitch Belt

5) From Wind of Imagination Is Here: A Paper Office

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.

Button Code:

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From Your Hostess: In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month starting September 15th, I am sharing our homemade Hispanic Heritage Musical Instruments

 

Now for This Week's Party   

A Few Simple Guidelines:
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!!

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post.

3) Post the button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/SharingSaturdayoption2-001.jpg" /></a>

4. Optional: Like us on Facebook and Google+
Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share and Mama Mia's Heart2Heart permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest. 

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

Sacagawea and the Shoshone -- Native American Heritage Month Series & Giveaway

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

As much as I love Native Americans, I tend to stick to the Wampanoag. Perhaps it is because they live in Massachusetts or because they are the ones in the "first Thanksgiving" story. Plus they are often the ones I see displays about or meet because of the locality. Well I already wrote a post about the Wampanoag for Multicultural Kid Blogs for our Native American Heritage Month Series this year and several over the years here, so today I decided to look at another tribe, the Shoshone. I am going to review one of the books that is a prize in our giveaway and take a look at one of the most famous Native Americans--Sacagawea and her tribe the Shoshone. Last month I had the pleasure of sharing another book that is one of our prizes--I Am Sacagawea by Brad Meltzer. I also reviewed a book about Sacagawea a few years ago. Today's book is Path to the Pacific: The Story of Sacagawea by Neta Lohnes Frazier. 

Anne Bradstreet: Poet, Pilgrim, Rebel #womenshistorymonth

 

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

Today we are continuing our celebration of Women's History Month. Today I am featuring Anne Bradstreet. She was the first American poet to be published! As I was doing my research and looking for children's books about her, I discovered Poet, Pilgrim, Rebel: The Story of Anne Bradstreet, America's First Published Poet by Katie Munday Williams and illustrated by Tania Rex. Sadly, I could not find a copy at our local library, but I was able to get a digital copy to review, so I get to share it with you!

A Seder Dinner: Exploring Passover

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

As a Christian I have only been to a Seder Dinner twice in my life. The first was as a child and the second was as an adult. Both were held at churches. I have always been fascinated by it. Perhaps it is because of the Last Supper being a Seder Dinner. Our exploration has brought with it many questions from Hazel with things like why don't we do this if Jesus did, but that is another story. My goal for this year was to look at what is involved with a Seder Dinner. We of course first looked at books like we always do.

Teddy Bear Picnic & Butterfly Party

Last week we went to a Teddy Bear Picnic run by recreation department of one of the towns near us. Hazel's best friend lives in the town and his mother told me about it, so we met them there. It was really cute. They had different stations with crafts and a few first aid stations. The first station we saw was a face painting/tattooing station. They had tattoo markers and drew designs on the children. The next station was to make a teddy bear purse out of a paper plate and a cut paper bowl (see two pictures below). Then there was a teddy bear mask station and a teddy bear clock station. They also had a first aid station. Here we had Ducky repaired since he had a small hole in him. Then they had a teddy bear check-up station where they weighed and measured and listened to the teddy bear's heart. Hazel brought my old teddy bear that I got when I was born. She calls him Teddy. At both of these stations they gave the children forms to say their teddy bears were healthy. They also gave a band-aid. Ours had teddy bears on it. They also had a station to make fruit cereal loop necklaces and finally a teddy bear treat station. The treats are gummy bear and Teddy Grahams. Sorry I forgot to bring my camera to the park, but at least you can see all our different crafts.

After going to all the stations, the kids played on the playground and we had lunch. It was a fun day!

The next day we had our butterfly party where we also asked people to bring cans of food for Hunger Action Month. I shared the invitation previously. We spent the morning decorating our patio and then of course it started to rain, so we quickly moved things inside.  We did not decorate as much inside, but we had our butterfly candle holders, butterfly frames, butterfly lantern and a few paper butterflies. We gave each person a frame and candle holder as well as a goody bag with butterfly bracelets, magnets and erasers. We also gave butterfly noisemakers and talked about how it worked like the butterfly's proboscis. We also read two stories, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert. The girls also played pin the antennae on the butterfly. I drew a butterfly on a piece of posterboard and Hazel decorated it. Then I drew antennae on construction paper and wrote each girls' name on one and we put a piece of tape on the back. We did not blindfold them since Hazel is very afraid to be blindfolded. We also had several crafts for the girls to make. 

They made butterfly bracelets with pop beads. We had butterfly beads to string, but no one wanted to do this. We made lollipop butterflies with a lollipop and a cupcake liner. Finally the one the girls loved the most was decorating foam and paper butterflies. We gave them crayons, glitter glue and stickers. The glitter glue however was the big hit. Finally the rain stopped so we went outside. The girls were going to put on a show, so two of them put on their butterfly wings, but then Hazel spilled her colored bubble stuff and was upset that I didn't have more pink. (I bought three bottles on clearance at Michaels that week.) She is mad in the picture that she couldn't have more right away. I blocked her friend's face since I did not get permission to post her picture, but she was having a great time playing. Overall it was a fun day!! Plus I cleaned out my cabinets so we have a whole bag full for the food pantry.

Sharing Saturday 17-22

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.

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party! It was a small party but had some great ideas! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have one group of features.  

Sharing Saturday 13-38

Thank you to all who shared with us last week and to all who came to visit and left comments! I apologize for not getting to visit all of them yet. I was sick for a good portion of the week and then Hazel did not have school today, so I did not get my time this morning to visit. However the few I dropped in on were amazing, so I highly recommend check them all out!! This week we had a tie for most clicked.

From Buggy and Buddy: Felt Monarch Butterfly Wing Tutorial 

and

From Living Montessori Now: Montessori Monday - Do You Need to Buy Montessori Cards and Counters?

A few of the ones I loved that I visited.

1) From Spoonful: 20 Easy Art Activities for 4-Year-Olds (there are also ones for 3- and 5-year-olds)

2) From Where Imagination Grows: Fun with Window Blocks and Shadows

3) From Imprints From Tricia: 5 Foam Apple Activities

4) From LalyMom: Halloween Fine Motor Activities That Promote Cutting Practice

5) From Crafting Connections: Nature-Made Play Silks (Free mini-mag when you sign up for newsletter)

6) From Racheous: DIY Story Stones

7) From StrongStart: Apple Boats for Snack

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. 

From Your Hostess:
This week I spent several days sleeping at least while Hazel was at school, but I got a few posts up. Luckily I had some projects we had completed previously that I just haven't had time to post on (and there are still more coming). We shared a Cinderella Tale from Argentina, Apple and Nature Prints to Welcome Fall, some books to introduce hunger and activities to get children involved in fighting it, a spider web craft to go with Charlotte's Web, and our ping pong golf ball flamingos.

This coming week there will be a giveaway and a product review! Plus we will be continuing our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month and of course begin some of our Halloween posts since October will be starting!

Now for This Week's Party  
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post. 

3

) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook and Google+

Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.