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Sharing Saturday #45




Ok, before we start I have an amazing giveaway going on from Melissa & Doug!! Please go enter and also check out the other Melissa & Doug giveaways at the blogs below the Rafflecopter!

And I need your help on selecting a winner of the Best Halloween Costume Contest. Just go visit and click like on your favorite(s)!

 Once again I was blown away by the creativity shared last week. If you have not had a chance to check it out, go do so (and show some blog love with a comment).
Our Most Clicked was from Wesens-Art again!
For my favorites this week, I have two categories: Fall/Thanksgiving Related Favorites and Personal or Must-See Favorites and Resources.


1) From Little Wonders' Days: November's 10 Ways to Show Your Kids You Love Them
2) From The Good Long Road: Autumn Decorated Tree
3) From Science Sparks: 20 Autumnal and Fall Science Activities
4) From The Good Long Road: Daily Thank You Cards
5) From Ginx Craft: Conkers--an explanation for those of us in the US
6) From Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails: Fall Hand Print Tree
1) From Art Mama Says: What Sandy Left Behind (A wonderful reminder of those in need after Superstorm Sandy hit and some ways to help!)
2) From Adventures at home with Mum: Car Wash
3) From Frontier Dreams: Finger Knitting (and dyeing yarn!) (Love the colors!!)
4) From Sweet Boutique: The Perfect Gift for Any Harry Potter Fan
5) From Waldorf By Me: A Lantern Round-Up (Perfect for Martinmas this Sunday! And yes we went on Hazel's first lantern walk tonight at school!)
6) From PlayDrMom: Favorite Children's Books about Anxiety (What an amazing resource!)
7) From Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk: Yarn Germs (Teaching kids about germs and washing hands!)

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:
Turkey Crafts: Nature and Paper
Today I thank God for love and light!

 
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. 

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Melissa & Doug Terrific Twenty List and Giveaway

As you know Christmas is fast approaching and being a Waldorf mom, I love all natural toys. As much as I love to support the handmade crafters, financially I cannot always. So I turn to companies like Melissa & Doug. I love their wooden toys and often are getting them for Hazel. They are so creative and build the imagination and are well made. So when I heard about this opportunity, I jumped at it.
Melissa & Doug are giving away a toy each day on their Facebook page. They started on Tuesday. Go over and enter to win something each day!!

 Now since Hazel cannot read I can tell you that Santa is bringing her Melissa & Doug's Castle Blocks. I am going to sew a back side to Hazel's zoo playmat to be a castle play mat and that will be her main present from us. Then she and Steve will have a wonderful time building and playing with her castle. She is so into princesses now. Steve still has his Lego castle from when he was young and she loves to look/play with it, but it comes apart easily.

Now for the exciting part!! Melissa & Doug have offered to send me one of their Terrific Twenty Holiday Gifts for 2012 and one to one of my followers!

 It was hard to choose what to get and giveaway, but I have decided on the Big Rig Building Truck Wooden Play Set, because Hazel loves to play with her tools and build/fix things and I would love for her to have some wooden tools as well as something they actually work on. Right now she has plastic ones and just pretends with them. This will actually build some fine motor skills as well as her imagination. So if you have a little one or a big one who would love to play with this and live in the U.S.A. (sorry to my international followers), please enter below. We will be following my Giveaway Rules. Good luck!!



Also there are other blogs giving away Melissa & Doug toys. Make sure you go enter for these great ones:

 
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More Holiday Fair Crafts

Today I thank God for my faith because I know with it all things are possible!

 So there have been several emails about the shortage of things for the Holiday Fair at Hazel's school. Even though I have done more than what was asked of me for donations, I figured I would keep working until the fair next week. I made a felt bird similar to the one I made last year with the pattern from Living Crafts Magazine. I didn't take a picture of it. Sorry! I'll have to find the one I made last year for Hazel and get a picture at some point.

 Then I made a felt duck. I used the free pattern Lucky Ducky from Nosey Nest Pattern Shop. Hazel of course loves this duck and wants it. I promised her I would make her one after the fair.
Next I made for the Pocket Lady a small felt bunny. This was so easy and quick. I will probably make some more of these and maybe put some on barrettes for the Wee Folk Shoppe. I got the idea from Artemis Moon. I just drew a quick pattern for myself.
Then I made a baby penguin with the tutorial on Holloughby. I printed the picture of the shapes pinned on the felt full size and used that as my pattern. I sewed everywhere and did not use glue.
I have a feeling I will be making another one of these as well after the fair. Anyway, I chose to do some hand sewing since I can do it in front of the television without disturbing Steve as well as while Hazel plays. I figure I will keep making things until the 17th. If I do one or two a day, at least it will get them closer to their goals.





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ThanksgivingTurkeys and Mayflower Crafts


Today and yesterday I thank God for my mother-in-law who let me sleep to feel better from a cold and for my life with which I am very happy.
Yesterday I started to fight a bit of a cold, so I took it easy. This morning Hazel and I did some Thanksgiving crafts. We took two of them from Crafts for Thanksgiving by Kathy Ross. We started by making a Mayflower puppet out of construction paper, paper towel roll, yarn and glue. You can pull the yarn to make the Mayflower go back and forth and hit Plymouth Rock. My only complaint about this craft is the masts are really not strong enough and I should have used cardstock or something stronger for them.

 Hazel made the Plymouth Rock herself and cut it out. I wrote Plymouth Rock for her and she then "copied" it.
Then we made a handprint and footprint turkey. In the book it looked like this:
I gave Hazel free reign however. I traced and cut out her handprints and footprints but she glued them where she wanted.
So ours came out like this:
Then ages ago, I saw a cute idea of making a turkey from a gourd. I bought two gourds at the time for this craft, but one of them rotted. I can't remember where I saw it or what the tail was made of, so we used extra handprints.  (To be honest I haven't gone back to look where I saw the craft.)

 We glued handprints to a small paper circle and then glued it on to the gourd and added eyes, beak, etc.
We are waiting for the glue to dry before we stand him up.

 Today we have lunch with friends and a couple of errands to run but for the most part we will be resting and of course waiting for the next big storm to hit. Steve was suppose to have the day off, but has to work because of the predicted storm. Hazel keeps telling him she cannot wait until Saturday when he is home again.




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Happy Family Times--In the Garden




Have you done something fun with your family this week? Kelly at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I would love to hear about it. Each week we collect great family activities to inspire us all to have more quality time with our families.
One bag of daffodil bulbs

 This week we had a lot of Mommy and Hazel time while Daddy was working overtime for the power company. So when the weekend came and Daddy was finally home, we took advantage of some family time. One thing that has been on our to do list was to dig up the dahlia and gladiola bulbs and to plant some daffodil bulbs my father gave us. Since they are predicting a possible snow storm this week, we figured we better get moving on it. So Saturday afternoon we went outside and started digging. Steve removed most of the gladiola bulbs and I got the dahlia bulbs in the back. 

Then Steve went to dig up the ones in the front while Hazel and I started to plant some daffodils. I had apparently forgotten that my father gave me some daffodil bulbs in the spring and accepted more from him in the fall so we had two bags to plant. Hazel went off and started planting in what was her sunflower garden.
Then we joined Daddy in the front and planted more daffodils. I cannot wait until the spring to see all of our pretty flowers!
After doing our yard work, we went for a bike ride/walk. Hazel rode her bike while Steve and I walked. Then of course part of the way Hazel decided to walk so Steve brought her bike home for her.


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)
~just crafts will be deleted since this is to share family times ~ 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!!

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Korean Doll & Nature Turkeys


Today I thank God for my extended family and keeping all of us save through the hurricane and for the amazing cats we have been allowed to adopt and have part of our family.
I finally made our poor Korean doll some clothes. I made this doll a few months ago from the Joan Russell pattern for her world dolls. I bought the materials to make all the dolls in the series. Now to find the time. Hazel has been playing with her naked.
This book also has a series of Native American dolls which if I have time I would love to make. Hopefully I can make some this month since it is Native American Heritage Month.

When Hazel saw her clothes, she looked at me and said what should we name her. I explained to her the pattern calls her Soh Ni, but we decided to name her Kongi after the Korean Cinderella. We have been reading different versions of Cinderella which I will post about on another Monday. Hazel has loved them!

 Now unrelated, I would like to share some of our nature turkeys we have made. Mine are on the right and Hazel's are on the left.

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Being Thankful Tree






Today I thank God for my loving husband!! And that he gets to rest this weekend!!
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Sharing Saturday #44

In case you missed it, I featured many of the wonderful Halloween crafts and activities here.

 I am also running a Halloween Costume Contest. If you would like to enter it or you would like to help choose the winner please go here.
Once again there were incredible ideas shared last week. If you have not had a chance to check them out, please go visit them and leave some comment love! We have had a very tough week here. My poor husband has been working almost non-stop because of Hurricane Sandy. One of the few downfalls of working for the power company is dealing with the storms. Hazel has definitely been missing Daddy this week which is hard on all of us. Luckily he is done finally and tonight he is getting a night to rest. Hazel is sleeping over at Nonni's (Steve's mother) and I am going out with a girlfriend so he can just relax and not even have to be social.

Before I go out, I wanted to get this party started!!
Click on picture to go to her post!
 My Favorites:

 1) From Heartfelt Creations: Creative Movie Night DVD Gift Wrap
2) From The Good Long Road: Three October Sensory Bins
3) From Making Boys Men: Helping Children Give
4) From Triple T Mum: How to Make a Toddler-Sized Scarecrow
5) From Annie One Can Cook: Give Thanks Friday
6) From April's Homemaking: The Starry Loom (Part of her 52 Weeks of Fairy Tales)
7) From Vixen Made: Glitter Tea Light Holders
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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Button Code:



From Your Hostess:


 
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.

Photobucket

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. 

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Halloween Sharing Saturday Features!


Sharing Saturday will begin a couple of hours, but I wanted to share with you some of the amazing Halloween ideas that have been shared the last couple of weeks. I meant to do this Wednesday but somehow on Wednesday my only focus was on Hazel, pumpkins and trick-or-treating. So here it is.



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Month of Gratitude and Virtual Book Club for Kids

Don't forget to enter and vote for your favorite Halloween costumes!!
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For the month of November I always try to focus on my blessings. This is something I know I should do more often, but I always set aside November since it holds our Thanksgiving to make sure I focus on it. This year besides doing something with Hazel on gratitude, I am going to post this lovely picture and one thing I am thankful for that day or as I like to word it, "Today I thank God for...." and I will fill in the blank. I would love it if you would join me in this month of gratitude!
Today I thank God for my amazing daughter! She is so loving and wonderful!
VirtualBookClub

 If you have been following my blog for any length of time you probably know I have joined an amazing group of bloggers (see the list below) for a monthly Virtual Book Club for Kids. Each month we read a book (or books) by the chosen author of the month and then do an activity to go with the book. On the third Monday of the month or after, we post about the book we chose and our activity and open a blog hop. The blog hop is open for everyone to share their books and activities to go along with the author of the month. November's author is Tomie de Paola! (For a list of all the year's authors, go to my Special Event Page!)
So go choose a book by Tomie dePaola to read and do an activity and join us on November 19th for the blog hop!

 The bloggers who host the blog hop with me are:
What I have really enjoyed with the Virtual Book Club for Kids is learning about new authors and seeing so many creative ideas with the different stories.  If you have missed any of the months, feel free to check out our Pinterest board.
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Surviving Hurricane Sandy & More Crafts

Have you entered my Best Halloween Costume Contest yet? Please stop by to enter and to vote for your favorite!!
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Today I thank God that my family and friends are fine after Hurricane Sandy.

Well, as you know I live on the East Coast so we have been hit by Hurricane Sandy. My dear husband is working like a madman to get people's power turned on in Massachusetts. The part I really hate about storms is how much he has to work and how angry people get about not having power. When I see how hard he and his colleagues work I realize that they are doing what they can. Anyway, that is another whole story. Today I will tell you about Hazel and mine experience of the storm.

 It started sprinkling/misty on Sunday here, but really was not bad. The news said the worst part would start around noon on Monday. So on Monday morning we went out to run a few errands that we had to do. Now just about every school was closed and so was the library, state offices, etc. But most stores were not, so off we went. Then Hazel had an unheard of two hour nap. She doesn't usually nap anymore and when she does we pay for it at bedtime. I figured I would let her sleep since I needed some sleep and she hadn't really gotten to see Steve and he would be working late.

 Shortly after she woke up, we lost power. And of course it was almost dinner time. Of course any problem with power here is dealt with a phone call to Steve. He called me back to let me know no one had reported it and gave me the number to report it. Then he called back to let me know it was a major area out (the local highway with all the stores were out as well) so I better figure something out for dinner since all the close restaurants were closed. I called one pizza place and was told delivery would take at least an hour, so I called another one and we got pizza in half an hour from the neighboring town. Hazel and I had a picnic in our family room. While we waited for the pizza to come we played many board games.

 Normally after dinner we start to get Hazel ready for bed, however with her nap she was not ready for that step, so we did some crafts. We had candles lit for when it got dark outside. Then I remembered the lanterns and found them. The dark picture above is without the flash so you could get a sense of what we were dealing with as we crafted.  Hazel decorated some felt bags and a felt owl and pumpkin using stickers and glitter glue. Then I used two of the felt bags to make a tic tac toe board. I bought some wooden hearts and stars after seeing a tic tac toe board at the craft fair and loved the idea. I thought of the bags to hold the pieces. I had these felt bags for something (I think I got them on clearance). Hazel saw them and wanted to do some as well.

 Then I liked this idea so much I went back to Michaels. They did not have anymore felt bags, but I found some canvas ones that had a pull string.  I bought some smaller wooden pieces for the smaller bags and used some fabric paint on them. I made a bunch for the Holiday Fair's Wee Folk Shop. Now I have all my required donations to bring tomorrow. Then I'll probably work on some more for them.

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Best Halloween Costume Contest

Ok, so I was thinking, wouldn't it be fun to share our kids' (or our own) Halloween costumes and pick our favorites. So here it is!
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All you have to do is link up the costume you want to enter. If you do not have a blog or a post with the picture you can use either your blog address or Crafty Moms Share for the address and then upload a picture from your computer! You can enter more than one (and they can be from the same post). Enter each costume separately. Then display the button on your blog either in the post or somewhere else and ask people to come vote for their favorite costume. The winner will get a homemade felt bat. We will follow my Giveaway Rules, however this is open internationally. A winner will be announced on November 15th!

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