Christmas Crafts - Focus on the Nativity with Oriental Trading - a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

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

So yesterday we had a Holiday Preview Party at work. We had to be festive even though it is only the beginning of November. I still have holiday nail stickers on. Yes, Santa is on my thumbs. It was fun though and it got me into the mood. Of course it also helps that Hazel has been pulling out holiday DVDs to watch for a couple of months now. Well I always like to find a way to bring the religious side into our holiday and am going to share some crafts and products that do just that. Now Oriental Trading has an amazing collection of religious Christmas products. Hazel and I looked through and choose a few fun things which mostly were crafts. I fell in love with the DIY Unfinished Wooden Nativity & Stable Set, which is no longer available. See their religious Christmas crafts for other ideas. 

The set comes with six sets of three people (man, woman and baby) as well as six stable shapes. I painted one of them and then used fabric for the clothes of another one. I will also admit I have a bit of a collection of nativity sets and Hazel is gaining my obsession as well. She is planning on decorating some of them for gifts this year. 

We always celebrate the season of Advent which is the time to prepare for Christmas. Our old church used the traditional color purple but our new church uses blue for Advent. I found the Joy, Hope, Peace Large Hole Beads and the Circle of Hearts Large Hole Beads for the week of Love. I also got Blue Pearl Beads since I wanted to make some for church and Sunday School teachers. I also had some purple beads already. You can see all beads they currently sell here. I also put on a Nativity Charm that I got for one of my previous craft reviews. You can see available charms here. After finishing the blue beaded bracelet I thought about how the third week's color is usually rose and dug out some pink beads to go with my purple. I can't wait for Advent to start so I can wear them. 

The first gift for Hazel's Advent calendar is going to be this wonderful Nativity Charm Bracelet. I know she will love it. She loves charm bracelets and will love having the Christmas story on her wrist. It is no longer available but there is a new colorful one as well as other Christmas jewelry kits.

We have been having so much fun Magic Color Scratch Inspirational Ornaments. We scratched sayings like "is the reason for the season" on the Jesus one or just patterns. Hazel also likes scratching off all the black to see the rainbow colors underneath. 

I fell in love with these Christmas Wood Slice Nativity Silhouette Ornaments. As soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted to use them on gifts. I decided to use them as gift tags. Now the gifts will have a little extra gift on them that can be hung on the tree and a reminder of the greatest gift ever. 

Our last item is the perfect reminder for you, your family and anyone who sees your car. It is the Nativity Scene Car Magnet. With a box of twelve, we have one for both of our cars as well as friends and family. I feel it is important to remember in our commercialized world that Christmas is about the amazing gift from God.

So be sure to go over to Oriental Trading and check out these amazing religious Christmas products and general Christmas products. They have everything for your holiday celebrations!

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party!! There was a mix of things from Halloween and fall to Christmas and every day.   Below are some features from the party, but this is just a small sample of great ideas shared! 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.

Features

1) From Growing Up Gabel: Turkey Pom Pom Thanksgiving Craft

2) From Hello Nature: DIY Pumpkin Centerpieces

3) From You Brew My Tea: Dollar Tree Autumn Wreath

4) From The Jenny Evolution: Hot Chocolate Stir Sticks

5) From Duct Tape & Denim: Gratitude Book

6) From The Scrap Shoppe Blog: Glittered Pumpkin

7) From Simply {Darr}ling: Scrabble Tile Christmas Ornaments 

8) From Life Sew Savory: Sweet Rose Dress (Free Pattern)

9) From Crystal & Co.: Handmade Christmas Beaded Ornaments

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!!

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!

An InLinkz Link-up