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Christmas Coloring & Crafting & Creative Play -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: I was sent these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

I have not been posting as much the past week or so between the holiday, spending time with family and fighting the horrible cold. As a result I am going to share two books with you today. One is for adults and the other is for kids (and is definitely going to be on my great gifts of the year list!!). We will start with the first book which I was planning on reviewing for Relaxing Friday, however it didn't happen. The book is Johanna's Christmas by Johanna Basford. Her coloring books are among the top ones. Over the summer I had the pleasure of sharing her Magical Jungle with you. 

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/540898/johannas-christmas-by-johanna-basford/#

Johanna's Christmas puts the colorer into the Christmas spirit. There are so many great pages that bring the mood to the holidays. This book is perfect for helping rid your life of some of the holiday stress. Here are some of the pages I have colored or started to color and the one Hazel has been working on. She is hoping I will give this book to her.
Positives of the book besides the awesome pictures to color are that they are single sided and perforated so you can do crafts with them!! The paper is a very good quality as well. I decided to use some of the pages as envelope liners for our Christmas cards. I pulled out one of the envelopes and traced it to make a liner. 
Since our envelopes have a rectangular flap and not a point, there were not as many good choices for liners. I did use the ornament page however and cut the liners short to only be what would show.  I used my template to trim the picture.
I used my tape runner to attach the liner in the envelope and repeated with other rows of the page.
I feel it gives our photo cards a bit more of a personal touch. 

http://www.storey.com/books/lets-play-farmers-market-activity-book/

 Our next book is one I have not had much time to look at personally since Hazel took it as soon as we got it and got to work.  The book is Farmers Market Create-and-Play Activity Book by Deanna F. Cook. Now last year our go to gift was Teddy Bear Doctor also by Deanna F. Cook and in fact we just bought one for an upcoming birthday party.  And Farmers Market Create-and-Play Activity Book is very similar. I love these books that give kids the tools to create their own creative, dramatic play.
Hazel's set up

 Hazel LOVES this book!! She got right to work making a register and the signs and the jars. I was very impressed with what she came up with. Now going to the Farmers' Market is one of our favorite activities when we visit my parents during the season of farmers' markets. They have a huge one that we loved. I decided to check out the book a bit more and noticed that the fruits and vegetables were made out of felt, so I looked into more details. They used the sticky felt, but since we didn't have any and I was trying to make them so Hazel could make her own afterwards I decided to use felt and glue instead of sewing. I loved the ideas of using cotton balls, pom poms and pipe cleaners as the "stuffing" to give it more realistic looks. 

 I have been saving various recycled containers that would work well for her market. I also made her some lettuce, corn, peas, green beans, carrots and a bunch of grapes. My peas however did not work well with glue and/or the size pom poms we have. I need to find even smaller ones for this method.

 I also made a strawberry which looks huge in this photo but isn't. Hazel has many of her favorite fruits and vegetables now. She loves them. I used the punch-out fruits and vegetables from the book as the patterns and the instructions in the book. The book also includes some simple math and more. There are also crafts to make a barn, tractor and garden. We are really loving this and it will be our new go-to gift for her friends. 


Thank you to everyone who shared with us at last week's party!! It was another fun, large party. Below are some features from the party, but this is just a small sample of great ideas shared! This week the features are in two groups: Christmas Crafts and Fun 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.

Christmas Craft Features


1) From Oh My! Creative: DIY Christmas Photo Frame

2) From Sparkling Buds: Christmas Wreath Painting
3) From Bombshell Bling: Christmas Advent Wreath Family Tradition

 4) From Pink Heels Pink Truck: Woodland Wonderland Holiday Decor

5) From Scrap Shoppe Blog: DIY Vintage-Style Ornaments

6) From Crystal & Co.: Handmade Beaded Christmas Ornaments Kids Can Make

Fun Craft Features


1) From Mama Mommy Mom: Hand-Painted Wine Glasses
2) From My Life from Home: DIY Rudolph Redo
3) From The Turquoise Home: DIY Fixer Upper Cathedral Window Frame

4) From The Real Thing with the Coake Family: Reversible Placemats

5) From Flamingo Toes: Rustic Floral Candle Coasters

6) From Refresh Living: Cozy Table Runner with Old Sweaters and Flannels


Thank you to everyone who shared the last week!! I hope you will share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog. I would love the help spreading the word about Crafty Weekends!!


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 Please share family friendly crafts here. Just crafts and/or patterns--no recipes, lessons, etc. You can share craft product reviews as well. By linking up here you are giving me permission to share your links and to pin your links. Please follow my Crafty Weekends Feature Pinterest Board to see all the features from these fun link parties!



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