Crafts from Recycled Materials (Valentine Themed) -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: I was sent these products to review free of charge from Quarto Books USA. 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.

Happy New Year!! Crafty Weekends has been on hold for a few weeks due to the holidays and Hazel's birthday parties. We are back this week with a review of two great children's craft books using things from your recycle bin!! I put a Valentine's Day twist onto the ones I made. I am also providing you with some free printable Valentines in case you do not want to make the crafts to go with them. 

Valentine's Day Crafts & More from Oriental Trading with Free Printable Valentine Cards -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

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. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Are you ready for Valentine's Day? We are, thanks to Oriental Trading. Now Hazel's school has a Father/Daughter Snow Ball the Saturday before Valentine's Day every year and this year I am co-chairing it. As a result I had even more Valentine's Day stuff to get than normal. I got the tablecloths we need for the Snow Ball.

Crafty Weekends Link Party -- Valentine Edition

This has been a very busy week and today I managed to catch a cold. Ugh!! My crafting didn't happen, but the party must go on. So I am sharing some features from last week as well as a bonus of free printable Valentines from last week and from previous Crafty Moms Share posts. Valentine's Day is Tuesday so these are perfect for anyone who needs something quickly! Many of these go with small gifts but also can be used without them. (When did Valentines start to include the gifts? I never received them when I was little.) I have listed the gifts after the links. I hope this will help relieve stress for some mom or dad out there. Let me know if you use one and/or which one is your favorite!

Valentine Crafts & More -- Crafty Weekends Link Party

Last week's Crafty Weekends Party was huge and there were so many great ideas I was a bit overwhelmed with putting together all the features!! Put that together with a busy week (and Hazel first snow day of the school year and the second is tomorrow) I didn't get much adult crafting done. We did however make some fun Valentine's Day crafts. The crafts I am sharing today involve two kits from the Paper Source which I purchased for us, so this is not really a review per say. I will provide you links when possible. I do not receive any compensation if you click them or purchase from them. They are solely for your convenience.  The first kit is the Ombre Heart kit which is actually in the clearance section and no longer available on-line. I made the teacher Valentine (the large one) and added on some of the words of 1 Corinthians 14.

Free Valentine-Emphasized Scripture Printables

Have you seen all the wonderful Valentine's Day crafts that involve John 3:16? I love them!! Oriental Trading has a kit to make 12. I love the craft one on Catholic Icing: John 3:16 Valentine Craft. When Hazel can write better we will be doing this. A few years ago I did a couple of printables of it in different fonts. Click on the picture to get each one.

Then this year forgetting I had done the other year and once realizing it knowing I wanted a different Bible version than the one I used I made another one this year.

Then after doing the heart peacock craft with 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, I decided to make one using that verse since it is so often used at weddings and is about love.

Then I made them both smaller to fit in the little frames I picked up at Michaels when they went on clearance.

 I love that we can keep them out all year. I know the frames are meant to be vertical, but I already had them.

Click any of the pictures to get that printable!

These printables are my Valentines for you!! I hope you like them!! Have a day full of love and friendship!! For more Valentine's Day themed ideas check out:

• Free Printables for Valentine Cards and Teacher Gifts 
• Celebrating Valentine's Day with 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 
• Valentine's Day Crafts some with Scripture and Bible References
• Simple Felt Hearts for Garland or Wreath
• For the Love of Geometry: Geometric Love Poems
• Strawberry Heart Muffins
• Felt Heart Gift--Hand Sewn
• Lavender Heart Sewing Lesson (Hand Sewing)
• Preschool Made Simple Valentines
• Valentine Tea Party
• Valentine Swap & Lots of Valentine Crafts
• My Valentine's Day Pinterest Board

Sharing Saturday 15-4

Have you ever had one of those days where your computer just doesn't want to work. That is how my night is going, but it seems to be behaving now. First a huge thank you to everyone who shared last week with us! And a special thank you to everyone who took the time to visit what others shared!! This week our features are winter related, Valentine related and Others.

Sharing Saturday 15-7

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! There were so many amazing ideas. I had a hard time limiting my features, but I came up with some Valentine's Day Features and Other Features. By the way with Valentine's Day tomorrow, I am going to write a bonus post about our Valentine Doll & Me Play Date. I hope you will come check it out. Then on Sunday I will co-host the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop (link live 2/15 at midnight). If you are sharing anything cultural/multicultural please come back and share again there! Now onto our features.

Sharing Saturday 15-3

A huge thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! It was the largest party we have had in awhile. I had a very hard time choosing features since there were so many amazing posts. Here are some of the ones I liked the best, but really there are many more to see if you have not checked them out yet. The topics for this week's features are Martin Luther King, Jr. (Monday is MLK Day in the US), Frozen, Valentine's Day and some lesson and polar bears ones.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Features

For everyone featured in this topic and ones not picked, please also link up at the Multicultural Kid Blogs Martin Luther King Day for Kids link party!!

Sharing Saturday 16-7

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, 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!! 

Does anyone else feel like February has so much packed into even though it is the shortest month? I mean Black History Month, Chinese New Year, President's Day, Valentine's Day and in our region at least a week long school vacation. Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday.  Plus add in Steve's birthday and my mother-in-law's birthday plus my parents' anniversary and our month is a bit crazy!! Thank you to everyone who shared at last week's party!! There were many amazing ideas shared. 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! The features this week are Valentine's Day, Arts & Crafts and Educational. 

Sharing Saturday 17-5

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: Valentine's Day, Book Related and Other Features.

Sharing Saturday 16-6

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, 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!! Thank you to everyone who shared at last week's party!! There were many amazing ideas shared. I had so much fun checking them all out. Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! The features this week are Valentine's Day, Winter, Colors and Learning Letters. 

Trinity Snowman & January Happenings

Today I am going to share with you a wonderful way to teach the Trinity to children and what will be happening this month here at Crafty Moms Share. First our lesson. I found on Proverbial Homemaker, Art Day Trinity Snowman Project on Pinterest. Her post led me to Hope Is Where the Heart Is to get the printable, Trinity Snowman. The printable is available for free at that link.

It is a lovely description of how the bottom ball of a snowman is the Father--the rock foundation, the middle ball is the Son with open arms and the head is the Holy Spirit--our counselor and friend. I think I like this explanation better than the apple one we read about and did a craft with in the fall.

The obvious project to go with this printable is a snowman craft. We went out to dinner tonight, but I prepared ahead of time by cutting out the three circles and gathering some supplies for Hazel to make a snowman. It entertained her until the food came. For other snowman ideas check out the features at this week's Sharing Saturday, our past snowman crafts and activities and our Winter Pinterest Board.

This month's author for Virtual Book Club for Kids is Laura Numeroff. She is best known for If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, but has a variety of books on all sorts of subjects. We will be sharing our chosen book and activity on January 13th.

Then on January 21st we will be "visiting" Peru with Around the World in 12 Dishes. We did a little exploration of Peru previously when we reviewed Daria's A Child's Life in the Andes. I am really excited to try the dish Daria suggested for us as well as a fun musical instrument craft I found. We will be posting our official dish on the 21st!! So join us then!!

I have been toying with the idea of running a Valentine swap again. Would you be interested in participating or having your child/ren participate? It would mean making some homemade Valentines and mailing them worldwide and then receiving some from all over the world. If you are interested, let me know. If there is interest I will put it together. 

That is what January brings! I hope you will join us for all the fun!

Sharing Saturday 17-7

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 smaller party than usually, 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 two groups of features: Educational Lessons and Book & Craft Features.

Sharing Saturday 16-3

Last week we had many amazing ideas shared!! Thank you to everyone who shared with us!! Our features are just a sampling of the wonderful things shared, so if you haven't checked out the rest you should!! The features for this week include Holiday Features (Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the US), Winter Features and Educational & Family Features. I have also host a craft link party (the crafts just have to be family appropriate and not necessarily kid related) and it is a place to share crafts, reviews of patterns, craft books, etc. and patterns. I hope you will come check it out Sunday.  This month's Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is beginning Sunday morning for all your posts that are culture (multicultural) related!

Paper Cutting for Celebrations -- 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. 

This Thursday is the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Chinese New Year Blog Hop. In preparation I have been gathering some great resources and I thought I would share the craft one with you tonight. It is Paper Cutting for Celebrations: 100+ Chinese Designs for Festive Holidays and Special Occasions by Zhao Ziping. 

Let's Talk About Love -- Books for Babies through Adults

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

With January coming to a bitterly cold end we turn are view to February and of course love. Valentine's Day can sneak up on you if you aren't paying attention. So today I am going to share with you books for all ages about love and the various kinds of love. I have everything from board books to an adult devotional. Yes we are talking love between parent and child as well as loving God and neighbors and even your favorite stuffed animal. We will go through by age so starting with the board books. The first one is If Animals Said I Love You by Ann Whitford Paul and pictures by David Walker.

Painted Rocks & a Super Bowl Craft -- Crafty Weekends Link Party

This week we have done a few crafts. The first to share is our Super Bowl craft. It was Patriots Spirit Day at Hazel's school on Friday. I checked out Patriots t-shirts and refused to spend the $20 on them, so I bought some printable iron-on transfers and made her one. This way she could participate and not wear her uniform and we didn't spend too much on a shirt she will wear once. (I already had the grey t-shirt.) My father now wants one since he is the huge Patriots fan in the family.

Playing Grace Thomas Doll Bakery

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

At the beginning of the year, American Girl Doll Stores introduced this year's doll of the year, Grace Thomas. Now Grace had an adventure in Paris that changes her life and she is a baker/business owner. When they introduced their new doll they gave souvenirs to people who came to see her at the store. Well, Doll Diaries had a souvenir set for a giveaway in January and I won it. Hazel was so excited!! We finally got it this weekend. Hazel immediately wanted to go through everything. She was not sure what the recipe box, recipe cards and dividers are for, but we decided she could use the box as a table for now. She put the Grace apron on her Hazel doll and created her own bakery. She used straws and cupcake liners for supplies since she was too lazy to get out her baking supplies. I however got out the baking accessories for her and set up the bakery.

Christmas Crafts Round-Up from 2011 - 2013

Last week I did a round-up of some of our favorite Christmas books that really share the story of Christmas or the giving spirit. This week I thought I would share a round-up of the Christmas crafts we have done since Crafty Moms Share started. But before we share our past crafts here is a clip angel we made for one of Hazel's angel crafts from her Advent calendar this year. I was inspired by the Easy Paperclip Angel Ornament on Crafty Journal that I saw on Pinterest.

We used glittery pipe cleaners instead of ribbon and wooden beads instead of pearls.

I think the pipe cleaner made it easier for Hazel to do on her own. We made two before breakfast one morning. Now as I was going through my Christmas crafts of the past, I discovered I had too many for just one collage (Picmonkey wouldn't let me put them in one), so I made four. Two are general Christmas crafts, one is nativity crafts and one is "gingerbread" house crafts.

1) Felt  Peace Dove (Advent Week 2: Peace)
2) Paper Star Bag (Christmas Prep)
3) Felt Covered Ornaments
4) More Felt Covered Ornaments (Simple Christmas Ornaments/Decorations)
5) Snow Globes (apparently I didn't share these before, but they have liquid in them)
6) Painted Wooden Ornaments
7)  Painted Cardboard/Paper Mache Ornaments
8) Paper Advent Wreath
9) Coffee Cup Christmas Tree
10) Coffee Cup Angel
11) Kenyan-inspired Clay Ornaments
12) Kenyan-inspired Wire Ornament
13) Simple Christmas Cards (Operation Christmas)
14) Felt St. Nicholas
15) Felt Candy Cane Mouse (Holiday Stroll)
16)  Hope Ornament (Hope--First Week of Advent)

1) Felt Sheep
2) Our Salt Dough Ornaments
3) Angels, Angels Everywhere and Angels with a Toddler and  Some Angels
4) Pasta Wreath
5) Pasta Tree
6) Needle Felted Dala Horse
7) Needle Felted Elf
8)  Mini Advent Wreath (Advent Calendars -- Start of Advent)
9) Popsicle Stick & Button Trees
10) Button Tree Card
11) Straw Christmas Tree (Christmas Crafts for Kids ebook Review)
12) Snow Globes (Busy Day Getting Ready for Christmas)
13) Jingle Bell Crafts
14) Punched Paper Chain
15) Felt Ornaments
16) Fruit Candy Cane (Christmas Crafts for Kids ebook Review)
17) Toddler Fun Tongue Depressor Elf
18) Stick Reindeer (A Lovely Visit)
19) Christmas Book Ornaments (A Lovely Visit)
20) Beaded Wreath Pin
21) Winter Flower Fairies
22) Poinsettia Fairy
23) Painted Pine Cones
24) Applesauce and Cinnamon Ornaments
25) More Salt Dough Ornaments

Foam Trees and Gingerbread Men

Pine Cone Christmas Trees & Busy Weekend Slow Down

Beaded Candy Canes

Beaded Candy Canes

Nativity Crafts

1)  Nativity Bracelet (Oriental Trading Christmas Craft Kit Review)
2) Foam Nativity Kit
3) Cloth Nativity
4) Toilet Paper Roll Nativity (Focus on the Nativity and
5) Wooden Nativity Pieces (Advent Week 2: Peace and Advent Calendars--Start of Advent)
6) Craft Stick & Felt Nativity (Focus on the Nativity and Busy Weekend)
7) Felt Nativity Ornament
8) Needle Felted Nativity (Sharing Christmas and Needle Felting)
9) Treble Clef Savior (Hope--First Week of Advent)
10) Gingerbread Graham Cracker Creche (Hope--First Week of Advent)
11) Wooden Nativity Craft (Oriental Trading Christmas Craft Kit Review)
12) Nativity Earrings (Oriental Trading Christmas Craft Kit Review)
13) Colored Wooden Nativity (Operation Christmas)
14) Nativity Story Stones
15) Printable Nativity (Focus on the Nativity and Sharing Saturday with Free Printables)

1) Toddler "Gingerbread" House
2) Valentine's Day Gingerbread House
3) Valentine's Day Gingerbread House
4) Gingerbread Train
5) Christmas Prep 2012
6) Post Christmas Gingerbread House
7) Mortimer's Gingerbread House (Virtual Book Club for Kids: Mortimer's Christmas Manger)

Manolo and the Unicorn -- New Picture Book Review

 

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

Today we are sharing the third (of four) picture books that were released this week. It delves into the magic all around us and especially in the world of children. It also is about dreaming, believing in oneself and so much more! The book is Manolo and the Unicorn by Jackie Azua Kramer and Johnah Kramer and illustrated by Zach Manbeck. It is recommended for ages 5 to 7. To go along with the book there is a unicorn craft round-up as well!