{Truth in the Tinsel} Advent Calender

Last year I had great fun creating a magnetic matchbox advent calender (shoo, that's a mouthful) and it also become one of my readers all time favourite posts - thank you. But this year I have decided to not even take it out and rather join another "advent-ture" (to quote Amanda). I have my copy of  Truth in the Tinsel and I'm all set to go.

I've taken the picture clues (provided in the book), printed them out and created these discs. (I used my much-loved circle punches to make them). I've attached the discs onto a kitchen cupboard so that the children can view the clues at any time. I think it will be a nice visual reminder as we progress through the month, especially as I don't foresee us making a craft every day.

To read more about it all, pop on over to the official website and to see what others are getting up to you can visit the official Facebook page. I will hopefully be sharing some of our crafts here during the coming month.

Please let me know if you are joining in and posting about it. I would love to pop over and see what you are up to :).

Truth in the Tinsel

I am so excited to share this awesome e-book just released by Amanda at impress your kids. I love the idea of celebrating Advent, the four weeks (Sundays) leading up to Christmas. This year I really want to impress the true meaning of Christmas on my children, as I feel it is so easily lost in the commercialism and busyness of the season. Celebrating Advent provides a special opportunity to stop and focus on the importance of this time of year. 

In this book you have a daily plan...a Bible reading, a craft activity and a few extra ideas...all prepared for you to simply put into action. The whole idea is very much up my alley , but yes, I realize that many of my readers may not be as crafty as me :). What I can say, is that all the activities are so easy to duplicate and one really doesn't have to do a craft everyday...in fact, that would pretty much be impossible in my book.

I have a copy and I'm all set to start on December the first. Hop on over to the Truth in the Tinsel (the website) to read more and to buy it at the wonderful price of only $4.99 (That's less that R40 for my South African readers).

Till next time...

Baby and Kiddies Market

Thought I would let my local readers know about this fun market coming up this Saturday.  For those of you out in the Southern Suburbs, maybe you want to brave it and come on over to the Northern Suburbs for a day :). I'll definitely be there for quite some time, as one of the exhibitors at the market happens to be my Mom. I'm going to be helping her out a bit, so if you happen to read this blog and see me...please say hi!

I'll be sharing more about my Mom's fantastic product soon - magnetic and non-magnetic alphabet and numeral sets. She manufactures it herself and Big One was her inspiration...more info and photos soon, I promise.

Till Saturday...

Bottle Top Babies

"...First comes love,
then comes marriage,
then comes the baby in a baby carriage."

Remember this little song from the playground? It's all I could think about when creating this little baby.

I must admit that I'm a bit obsessed with bottle tops at the moment. Why? Well, that I'll share with you shortly, but in the mean time, I couldn't resist making these.

Just in case you were wondering, the pacifier was made from a punched circle and the inner seal of a big juice box (I hope you know what I'm referring to). The carriage was  made from a bigger lid, which I cut in half.

All ideas are inspired from somewhere I believe and my inspiration for these were the cutest, funniest little baby cupcakes I've ever seen at baby gaga and a paper plate craft at Miss Renee's Kindergarten Pad.

More baby fun to follow. Stay posted.

PS. Sharing this at:
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars 
Too Cute Tuesday @ Funky Polkadot Giraffe 
Take-A-Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts 

Baby Baby {Eye-Spy Bottle}

In the past few months I have attended three baby showers...one of those babies has arrived and two are still to come. Baby Showers mean baby gifts and I love the idea of taking something new; something recycled (I love that word, don't you? - it sounds so much better than "old"); and something home-made. One of my favourite home-made gift ideas is an Eye-Spy Bottle.

I first saw this idea over at Silly Eagle Books and really loved it. I have made quite a few of these and I think I enjoy playing with it as much as the children do. For the baby it's a great noisy toy; it's stimulating and interesting; and it rolls nicely when you are giving baby tummy time. For the toddler it becomes a nice eye-spy toy, with an educational bonus - depending on what you put into your bottle, you can practice things like colours and counting. For the slightly older child, you can add an eye-spy spy photo card /or hand drawn card and ask them to search for the specific items in the bottle. For a grown-up - you can make one as a bit of a stress-release toy. I had one on my desk for awhile and couldn't resist shaking the bottle gently and moving the rice and small objects around - something about it is very relaxing :).

With babies on my mind, I decided that we need to have some Baby Fun and I'll be sharing our fun in the next few posts. I also created a special board Baby Showers and Gifts on Pinterest to collect my favourite ideas. 

 

I have another lovely friend who lives across the seas and who is also expecting a baby very soon...she happens to also be having some Baby Fun posts at the moment. Do pop over and visit.

PS. To see a photo card version, pop over to Pink and Green Mama to see her awesome rainbow eye-spy bottle.

Name Skeleton

As part of our Doctor Doctor fun, I searched for some skeleton art and crafts and I was thrilled to find this fab idea over at Garden of Praise (via Pinterest). Can you tell that the rib section is made from a name? How cool is that? Want a tut?

Take an A4 sheet of paper and fold it in half. Write your name on the page using the fold as your line. Then cut out the name and fold it open. I hope the pics help...

I showed Big One the original post and picture and left him to his own devices. He loved the idea, grabbed a scissors and confidently started cutting. On the other hand, silly me needed to do this about three times before I figured it out.

 

Big One's final creation is a "Knight Skeleton" - he is always keen to add his own special take on any project :). 

PS. Shared at For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars and Show and Tell @ ABC and 123. 

Honey Bunny Studio

Earlier this year I entered a giveaway from Honey Bunny Studio to win a print from their Etsy shop and was thrilled to have won. It was so much fun choosing and then to wait to receive this special print all the way from New York! 

I haven't posted about this sooner, because I only framed the print recently and I wanted to post a picture of it framed. 

Thank you so much Nelvis for sending this across the seas. It has a special place on Little One's bookshelf as you can see!

Doctor's Orders

One of our Grannies has just had an operation and spent four days in hospital. So what do you do to make a sore Granny feel better? Well, you can give her a plaster people card ...take her some very special flowers from the garden...a magazine...some sweet treats...and you give her a Get Well Script of course. Not just one - a whole note pad of them! These scripts can be torn out and handed in at any time...Grandpa, be warned!

Wouldn't this be a fun addition to the mommy-made Doctor's kit.

Spring Showers

"In the Spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six
different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours."- Mark Twain

The sun and the rain have been playing tag for the past few weeks in Cape Town. I was lucky to snap these happy pictures of the boys playing in the rain.

Happy Happy Spring Time wherever you are!

The Blessing by John Trent & Gary Smalley {Booksneeze Review}

I was very excited to read The Blessing ,which I had received to review from Booksneeze. This book is essentially about the gift - the blessing -  that we all deeply desire to receive from our parents. This blessing is an affirming gift and when we receive it,  we experience our parents' unconditional love and acceptance, as well as a sense of high value and self-worth.

In the book, the blessing is explained as having five essential elements and each of these are biblically based. These elements are 1) meaningful touch 2) a spoken message 3) attaching high value 4) picturing a special future, and 5) an active commitment. The authors explain both why the blessing is so important for positive self-worth and relationships, as well as what you can do, if you have not received it.  They go on to provide practical advice about how you as a parent can impart this special blessing to your children.

As excited as I was to read this book, I have to be honest and say that I struggled to get through it. I particularly struggled with the first four chapters, which focus on why this blessing is so important and why one should read the book.  Perhaps I was a little impatient, because I wanted to get to the nitty-gritty of what the blessing was all about. The description of the blessing was definitely my favourite part of the book and I think that the suggestions offered for those that feel that they missed out on the blessing, as well as the practicalities of living the blessing, were also helpful.

In a nutshell - it wasn't the easiest read for me, but I would recommend it and it's a book I will definitely be popping into again. 

Thank you Booksneeze for sending me a complimentary copy of this book to review.  I can't wait to review another one :).