This Handmade Life

PBN has teamed up with Klutz, creators of activity books and other great stuff for kids ages 3 to 103. With award-winning and bestselling how-to-books for the wee ones!


I wanted to chat about about handmade presents and such that kids can make for the holidays. Last year we made soft trees and felt birds and they turned out great! This year we will make the kids blocks from our shop and let them paint them for friends and family. We also plan on making calendars too! It is always fun to create with my kids, but sometimes it makes me a bit nuts I cannot lie. My trick is to have few glasses of wine on Holiday Crafting night. It works!
I hope you take the time this season to create and give from the hand and heart! xo


COOL BEANS:
Check out this special offer from Klutz - free shipping and a free copy of the award-winning Activity Book (a $14.95 value) when you order $50+ via this link. Just click it! And feel free to share it with your readers too - the more, the merrier!

Positive Spin Press is my new GO TO for the Holidays!

The Parent Bloggers Network sent me three amazing books to review!

The three holiday books from Positive Spin Press are fabulous! There were three books to review: All Hallows Eve The Story of the Halloween Fairy, Christmas Eve The Joy of Giving, and Winters Eve Love and Lights by Lisa Sferlazza Johnson.

I sat down and read All Hallows Eve first with the boys as it was a few days before Halloween and I was hoping there would be something more than candy to think about! I was so pleased with the character Eve. She was delightful and kind and good and just what we needed during a rocky month. I try and fill my children up with good when they are being naughty. Don't you? Eve provides a wonderful alternative to scary Halloween with her toy making and I also liked the idea of celebrating other things instead of just candy candy candy! It is an adorable and engaging story. My 4 year old loved it and had to read it about ten times!

We all enjoyed the Christmas Eve book as well. I liked the message in the book of celebrating more than the Christian view of the holiday season and the idea of giving thanks. When I choose books that deal or touch upon religion for my children I like it very much when more than one view is represented. These books do this in a light and happy tone. The third book Winters Eve which talks about winter light festivals including Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and the Chinese New Year was a bit over my 4 year old's head. He loved the pictures and when I stopped and explained and chatted about ideas then he seemed interested, but I think it is geared a bit more for the K-4 age group.

The author Lisa Sferlazza Johnson and illustrator Tucker Johnson have created a wonderful series within the small character of Eve. She is appealing to families that like options with the somewhat dogmatic Holiday season. I will buy more of these titles to teach my children to look beyond their home for what makes the world go round! Great books! You can purchase these books at amazon.com and check this out: PBN is giving away three copies of each book! Go find out how to win!

I want moist Breasts and Perfect Cranberries!

DUDE. I cannot take the pressure of Thanksgiving. It makes me buckle at the knees. I like a holiday like Valentines Day where the focus is really on my sexy self and the food is just a precursor to the evening. Thanksgiving is HARD!
It is all about the food. I watched in horror as my family ate dry turkey the first year the family dinner was in my home. You could tell they were trying in vain to drown it in gravy to resuscitate it. Agh! I should have called Butterball!

This year I am going to call. I hear you can chat this year with some famous bloggers who must have moist and succulent breasts coming out of their own kitchens. Call 1-800-BUTTERBALL to virtually talk turkey with their holiday meal preparation experts, or visit Butterball.com for Web chats with a few bloggers we all know and love - Chris Jordan (Notes from the Trenches), Susan Wagner (Friday Playdate), and Roxanna (Miguelina) on November 11, 18 and 25 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. CST. They'll answer all your turkey related questions.
I love PBN for giving me cool options like this!

So- Where do I start with the perfect menu? Any suggestions?

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Butterball.