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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query tea party. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query tea party. Sort by date Show all posts

Sharing Saturday 17-6


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 another great party and there were some amazing ideas shared. Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have three groups of features: Current Events, Parenting, and Lessons & More Features.

Sharing Saturday 17-30

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.

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. 




Spring Cards with Origami -- Crafty Weekends Tutorial and Link Party


I have had an itch to do something creative on my own. Then I fell in love with a sample card at work which featured an origami dress made with a mint green flowered wrapping paper. I bought a sheet and got the instructions for the dress. I also have been wanting to make a bunny card with Easter approaching. Let's start with the origami dress. After finding a few tutorials because I found one step of the instructions confusing, I decided I liked this one the best. It made the confusing v-neckline the easiest.

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. 

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 16-45

Wow, it is already November!! This fall is flying by. 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 last week! 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! This week we have two groups of features: Pumpkin Recipes and Lessons & Party Features.

Sharing Saturday 17-20

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 very small party but full of 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.  

Happy Family Times #3

Well we had a weekend full of family times--well extended family times. My parents visited for the Easter weekend. Our plans were my mother, Hazel and I would do Easter fun day and a tea party at church on Saturday, and Steve and my father would go to the shooting range and shopping. Well we went to the Easter fun day. Hazel had a blast. They had several crafts and activities and then shared a story and then there was the Easter egg hunt.
Magnet fishing for prizes
Foam cross craft
Easter Egg Craft (she got tired of foam crafts I think)
Lamb Egg Craft (We did a bunny too but his head is missing)
There were temporary tatoos and a prize tower thing as well. Plus they decorated bags when they first got there to put all their prizes and crafts in. Then it was story time. The Best Thing About Easter by Christine Harder Tangvald was the story. It is a great story about all the things that we do for Easter--decorate eggs, the Easter Bunny, dress up, etc. and that the best thing about Easter is Jesus and His Resurrection. Then it was out to the front lawn for the egg hunt. Hazel LOVED the egg hunt.

She did a great job filling her basket! Of course many of the middle school age students helped her. In fact some of them dropped the candy they picked up in front of her so she would find more since she was so excited to find it. It was so cute.  A friend took pictures, but I haven't gotten the copies yet. Sorry! Then we went home to find the men back. After lunch and some play time with Pop Hazel decided she no longer wanted to go to the tea party, so she stayed home with the men. Mimi and I however had a great time. (Not great pictures, but a great time.)

Then we came home to find everyone napping. Guess that is why Hazel didn't want to go--she was too tired. However after nap time, we dyed Easter eggs. My mother and I hard boiled a dozen eggs. Then we had Hazel help us mix the colors. We used a Paas kit. I thought about experimenting with natural dyes, but decided to go the easy route this year. The kit came with nine colors!!
I tried to show Hazel about wax resist coloring, but she was more interested in put the eggs in. After we had colored the twelve eggs, Hazel recolored them. The men wanted nothing to do with the messiness of dying eggs. Hazel decided to use her hands and not the spoons or dippers, so she dyed her hands as well.
Then we had a light dinner and Hazel went to bed. The Easter Bunny came and left her basket in her bedroom in hopes of giving the adults some more time to sleep. He also hid the plastic eggs in the living room of our guest suite so whoever got up with her wouldn't have to worry about keeping her out of a room she usually can go into. She went to bed late due to her nap so she actually slept rather late. Then we had her egg hunt.


She loved it!! We had the best time watching her find the eggs. She skipped/jumped around the room. Then we gave her the gift from my sister. It was two of her favorite books. She jumped up and down and giggled/screeched with joy after opening it.
Then it was off to church for the ladies again. Hazel was dressed like she was with pictures of the Easter Bunny, but wouldn't let me take any pictures. Then we came home and prepared Easter dinner. Our dinner consisted of a Honey Baked Ham (the church had a fundraiser to buy gift certificates where the church got half the proceeds), mashed sweet potatoes and a salad. For dessert we had a carrot cake (which I bought at church back around Thanksgiving and froze). It was all delicious and fuss free! Then Hazel played with Pop.
Here is a picture of them this morning playing with little hopping plastic bunnies. My father is trying to show her how to do it. He got up with her almost every morning they were here. She loves spending time with him.

Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.



~ please link up (family time oriented giveaways are ok, but please no Etsy shops)
~ use our button so others can join the fun

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~ we'd love for you to follow us Crafty Moms Share and Happy Whimsical Hearts
~ check out our Happy Family Times Pinterest board where we will be pinning some of our favorite ideas


Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!

A Look at Japan for Asian / Pacific Island Heritage Month


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

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Multicultural Kid Blogs is hosting a blog hop today for this heritage month and I decided to focus mostly on Japan. I have a bunch of fun books to share with you to help focus on Japan and its culture. It is a mixture of coloring books, origami kits, a novel and an Asian cookbook. The first book I am going to share is another book in the Friendship Dolls Series from Candlewick Press. I reviewed the other two previously. Today's book is Dolls of Hope by Shirley Parenteau. 

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.

Origami Bonsai -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me 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.

Tomorrow we are sharing our exploration of Japan and our Japanese tea party as our post for the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Asian Pacific Island Heritage Month Series & Giveaway. To kick off our exploration of Japan I thought it would be great to share two Japanese arts in one book -- origami and bonsai. The book is Origami Bonsai by Benjamin John Coleman. 

Sharing Saturday #17

Wow, with Earth Day on Sunday, we got some amazing Earth Day ideas as well as many other ideas last week!  If you haven't checked them out you really should. Also have you seen Happy Family Times yet? Kelly at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I have started a new type of link party on Tuesdays to inspire more quality family times for all of us. Go check it out. It is open Monday evening-Saturday morning (EST). There are always so many great ideas especially for getting your family outside.

Sharing Saturday 16-22

Have you entered my current giveaway for a custom canvas print?

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,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 last week! 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! I'm finally starting to feel a little better, but I still have the lingering cough and have had a rough week. This week's features are summer themed and the other ones.  (Does anyone else have summer on their minds?)

The Thrifty Guide to the American Revolution

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

Ready for a vacation? In this new series the year is 2164 and Time Corp. has found a way to travel in time and offers various vacation packages to witness history first hand. In today's book we are traveling to colonial times as the American Revolution is beginning. The book is titled The Thrifty Guide to the American Revolution: A Handbook for Time Travelers by Jonathan W. Stokes and illustrated by David Sossella. 

Sharing Saturday 17-11


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 full of some great ideas in all sorts of different topics. 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: Books & Other Great Features.

Cheap Doll Finds -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Oriental Trading sent me these items in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. All printables are free but for personal use only. If you would like to share them, please use a link back to this post.

I have not done a cheap doll find post in awhile, but I decided it was time. One of my favorite places to look is Oriental Trading. They have so much for parties and crafts and if you are creative you can find some great items that work for dolls. I always start by searching "miniature" or "mini". I will admit Hazel and I have been checking things out for awhile since she is planning on having an American Girl themed birthday party this year. It was going to be a Beforever themed party until she got Saige as a hand-me-down. For the birthday party we knew we wanted to get the Mini Neon Tote Bags, so we will start with these. Hazel set up the scene as her dolls having a slumber party. The tote bags work for the girls to bring her things for the night. At Hazel's party they will be for the dolls to bring home their favors (and we are planning on getting the matching Neon Tote Bags for the girls). 

501 Enchanted Embroidery Designs -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party


Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing 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. 

Today I am sharing with you a fun book that brought back some childhood memories for me. It is 501 Enchanting Embroidery Designs by Boutique-Sha. 

Virtual Book Club for Kids: Mixed Up Fairy Tales by Nick Sharratt



This month the author for the Virtual Book Club for Kids is Nick Sharratt. We have really enjoyed his books. He has quite a range of books and then even more that he has illustrated. You can learn a little more about Nick Sharratt on his website.

Princess Party Food & Free Printable Signs

My Superhero Princess
So yesterday I shared some pictures from Hazel's Princess Birthday Party. Today Hazel enjoyed several of her gifts. She ran around in her new tutu, cape and waving her wand plus a crown from the party and a bag with her bell in it yelling "Here comes Superhero Princess." She rang the bell to let people know she was coming. So much fun!! (She also dressed herself today and her outfit showed it. Nothing matched, oh, well!)

 Today I am going to share our Royal Menu with you. (Well besides the cakes since I shared them yesterday--well I'll share some pictures and then you can check out how to make them and recipes, etc. in yesterday's post.)
We also bought some cold cut platters and roll platters to make the party a bit easier for me. Of course we have lots left over so we will be eating sandwiches for quite awhile. As for the rest of our food and beverages we did a princess theme. And I made signs to go along with them and shared information about the princess and/or princess story. All the information came from wikipedia unless otherwise stated on the cards. And yes, I saved the signs as pdf's so I could share them with you. I made them on Print Shop as quarter fold cards, so  the real-life princesses' information was continued on the inside of the card.
Front of Beverage Cards
For beverages, we had Princess Belle's Tea (sorry I seemed to miss taking a picture of it), Princess Aurora's Coffee, Snow White's Apple Cider, Princess Ariel's Spring Water and some Pink Princess Punch (sparkling and non-sparkling). (Note: Click on each link to get that sign for yourself.) Sorry I didn't save the Pink Princess Punch sign since I did it quickly the day of the party.
Back of Beverage Cards
For appetizers/snacks we had some vegetables and Princess Kalina of Bulgaria's roasted garlic dip (Princess Kalina is a vegetarian) and Princess Jasmine's and Queen Raina's hummus.
Then we had Princess Letizia's Chips and Salsa and crackers with three types of cheese (and yes, I picked the cheese by where there are princesses). We had Princess Mafalda of Savoy's Toscano Cheese, Princess Diana's Cheddar Cheese (I used Diana since Kate is not officially a princess),  and Princess Maxima of the Netherlands Gouda Cheese.

Then to go with the sandwiches we had Princess and the Pea's Vegetable Soup (vegetarian). I based the soup from a recipe from one of my mother's cookbooks by Jane Brody. I'm pretty sure it is Jane Brody's Good Food Cook Book. My mother has had it forever and always uses it. The recipe was simple and I did it in my slow cooker. I just chopped some onions and celery. Added some Italian seasoning and vegetable broth. A can of diced tomatoes and then lots of frozen vegetables. I included frozen diced potatoes in case there were any vegetarians. I wanted it to be filling. Plus of course I made sure to include some peas. Then I poured more broth on and added some ground pepper a small amount of salt (since I use low sodium everything). Everyone who tried it loved it and raved about it.
I was going to make Rapunzel's Chicken and Broccoli Braid, but ran out of time. We will have to have it another time since I have the ingredients to make two of them. I was going to use this recipe at Taste of Home.

So that is our princess themed royal party menu. What do you think? We had fun and have plenty of delicious leftovers. Unfortunately, my father got a cold (either from me or my nephew at Christmas) and they will not be visiting for Hazel's actual birthday, so we are going to have to eat the leftovers ourselves. Hopefully he will get better soon.