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Please let them know I sent you! Kinda Crunchy Mama

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Paperback Swap

Have you heard of PaperBack Swap? I just heard about it today and i'm already hooked!

If you like to read a lot and have books all over the place, then this site is for you!

The basic premise is that you post any books you have that you're willing to part with. Someone else tells you that they would like your book, so you mail it to them. You do pay postage which is typically around $2-$2.50 a book, but when you pick out a book, the other person mails it to you for free.

To initially start, please click this paperback swap link HERE and I will get a referral credit for you (Yah!). Then post 10 books and you will receive 2 book credits to get you started. You have to have a book credit to order a book. Every time one of your books get mailed out and received, you get another book credit! I initially put in 13 books and I already have 3 requests for book! I cashed in my two credits and will be cashing in the other 3 as soon as I can ship my books off.

Right now, this couldn't have come at a better time for me. I'm looking to start the tradition with Gideon of opening a Christmas book every night until Christmas. I currently have 9 books so will be needing a bit more to achieve this. I've already been hitting up Goodwill for Christmas books but this will be one more way for me to gather for cheap. I also will start looking for books for me because I LOVE to read! Of course I never want to give my books away when I do read them :) he he.

Click me to sign up!

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Elf on the Shelf

Have you ever wondered how Santa Claus knows if you're being naughty or nice? One of the ways he knows, is his special elves come and visit you and then reports back to Santa on what you're doing. In comes the Elf on the Shelf.

I heard about this last year either right after Christmas or during Christmas. I slowly started pinning ideas on Pinterest and I couldn't wait for this next year to start a new tradition! Now that we're here, I made sure I picked up my elf with plenty of time for Christmas.

You can purchase the elf in a box set online or from any Hallmark store. The set includes the elf itself and also a book that explains the tradition. There is also a page in the back of the book so that you can document what year your family received your elf and what you named him. Don't forget to go online and tell Santa what his name is! Your specific elf will come back every year to spend time with your family.

Children are told that the elf can not be touched or it will take away his magic. They are encouraged to talk to him but he is on a gag order from Santa not to talk back. Every morning the elf moves to a different place of your house and he/she is sometimes doing something a little naughty. This is where the ideas come in for you, mom and/or dad. What should your elf be doing? He can be hanging from the Christmas tree, spending time in the freezer (it's as cold as the North Pole) or you can find something fun for him to do! Of course, the better ideas you have, the more fun your elf is. Not to mention the better memories for your children.

There has also been talk about a great side-effect of having the elf in your house. The kids behave better! Hahaha.

I thought I would share the collection of all the websites i've found that have different ideas for Elf on the Shelf. I hope this helps you in planning for your upcoming holiday.


Kinda Crunchy Mama - I added this in on 1/3/12. This is what we did this last year.
Diary of a Wannabe Domestic Diva - Includes a calendar of daily activities already figured out.
Clearly Candace  - A list of ideas including pictures. Either ideas for older kids or adults that want to laugh. A few are jokes that you need to be a little older to understand. i.e. YMCA with barbies, planking on the tree, "I miss snow" elf watching tv on fuzz station). Cute though, pics are great.
Enza's Bargains - 30 or so ideas with pictures. Most ideas are easy to do with things around the house.
Elf on the Shelf Forum - This is a random forum with ideas for Elf on the Shelf. There are some creative ideas, not all include pictures.
Blossom Bunkhouse - 101 ideas - long list of ideas but no pictures.
The Elf on a Shelf Pool - Flickr group of 791 photos (as of today).
Living Locurto - 25 pictures in an e-book that the author created from her readers
Little Pumpkin Grace - cute idea on how to start the holiday season with your elf. They had a North Pole  Breakfast. Includes pictures.
Less cake more frosting - Great idea when the elf has to go home. Create a photo of the elf with Santa in front of your Christmas tree. On the front of the picture write a goodbye note. Need photoshop or any other editing program that lets you layer. (I like picmonkey). *edit* I wasn't able to get a cut out of Santa to use to layer but I did find a site that does it all for you. I then added the text with picmonkey later. Check out my post on iCaughtSanta for more info!
Shelf The Elf - Pictures of the Elf caught on camera. Also a name generator to help with name choices.
DIY Elf on the Shelf @ The EcoFriendlyFamily I added this on 11/29/12 How to make your own Elf if you're creative Could be fun to personalize it yourself.

P.S. This is my first year so I will definitely be posting pictures of what our special elf is doing. Feel free to post on my Facebook page what your little elf has been doing! And if you don't have one yet, go on over to Amazon and order one in time for the holidays :)

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Upcoming December Giveaway

How many of you cloth diaper? I don't but my son is 4 yrs old. Ha ha. Did I when he was a baby? No. The thought went through my head for maybe 2 seconds then I thought it would be too difficult and there was no way I was doing that. When I lived in Korea I met quite a few moms that cloth diapered though and I realized how easy it really was. Not only that, how cute! One more way to make your baby cute and i'm all over it! My son always hung out in just a diaper since he would get hot so easily and this would have been a great way to keep him still looking cute! And considering my son didn't potty train till about a month ago (grrr) it would have been a lot cheaper that's for sure. I don't even want to think about how much I spent on disposable diapers...

*Disclaimer - these are not the diapers for the giveaway. This is a general picture of Kawaii one size snap diapers

So when I saw this sign up for a stash of Kawaii one size diapers and a wet bag, I signed up! What a great way to help someone who's just starting out or someone who is rotating the same 12 diapers every day to get started/some more! Now that i've gone "official" with my blog (oops, did I not mention that) this would be a great way to get some new readers too!

If you're interested in signing up too, stop on by Kerrific Online and sign up!

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Operation Christmas Child

I don't know if you've heard of it before, but it's something that Samaritan's Purse does every year. The basics of it is that you take a shoe box, fill it up for a child based off a specific age range and sex (you pick) and then the organization sends it to children in other countries that will probably only receive this box for Christmas. Honestly this is probably the only new thing they'll get this year.

Operation Christmas Child shoe box gifts bring smiles to the faces of hundreds of Haitian children in December 2011 by Samaritan's Purse. Operations Christmas Child relay teams in Reno and Sparks will send similar gifts to children overseas this year.

Read more: Sparks Tribune - Needy children benefit from back to school shopping

I was introduced to it a few years back at a church that I was attending but haven't done one since. I kind of forgot all about them, honestly. Then this year came and I came across shoe box ideas on Pinterest of all places. That's when I decided I wanted to do it again. I was hoping my local MOPS group would be doing it so had been waiting but I asked about it yesterday and found out they didn't have it planned, but someone was willing to get it going. Then we realized next week is collection dates! *EEK! I guess i'm going to have to get my butt in gear with this. Luckily it's pretty easy to figure out from the website and you can just look up a collection site to drop it off at. You can even "follow along" with your shoe box now to find out where it goes, which is pretty cool.

Here are some FAQ's from the Samaritan's Purse website:

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some questions we hear frequently about Operation Christmas Child. Call 1-800-353-5949 for more information.

Q. WHAT SHOULD I PUT IN MY SHOE BOX?

A. We have put together a list of suggestions and things to avoid when packing your box. Please watch the video here and go to our page, "How to Pack A Shoe Box".

Q. DO I HAVE TO USE A SHOE BOX?

A. No, you may also use a similarly sized plastic storage container with a removable lid or other similarly sized box.

Q. CAN I WRAP MY SHOE BOX?

A. Yes, but please remember to wrap the lid separately.

Q. WHERE SHOULD I TAKE MY FINISHED SHOE BOX?

A. We have drop-off locations around the nation. Find the center closest to you here.

Q. WHEN IS THE DEADLINE FOR SENDING MY SHOE BOX TO YOU?

A. National Collection Week is November 12-19, 2012, but you
may send completed boxes year-round to our headquarters:

Operation Christmas Child
Samaritan's Purse
P.O. Box 3000
801 Bamboo Road
Boone, NC 28607

Q. WHERE WILL MY SHOE BOX BE DELIVERED?

A. Shoe box destination countries vary from year to year. If you make your donation online, you can follow your shoe box with  Follow Your Box Donation.

Q. HOW ELSE CAN I PARTNER WITH OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD IN ADDITION TO PACKING A SHOE BOX?

A. We need volunteers during the months of November and December. For more information, check out our volunteer opportunities page.

Q. WHAT DOES THE $7 COVER? CAN I SEND CASH?

A. A donation of $7 or more helps us cover project expenses like shipping the boxes. We prefer that these donations be made by check or by using our new online donation option (called "Follow Your Box Donation").

Q. IF I SEND MORE THAN ONE BOX, CAN I WRITE ONE CHECK FOR ALL OF THEM?

A. Yes, you may write one check for them all and place it in any one of your boxes.

Q. WHAT IS THE MISSION OF OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD?

A. The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Q. WHAT IS SAMARITAN'S PURSE?

A. Samaritan's Purse is a Christian relief and evangelism organization led by Franklin Graham. Read about our history here.

 

Some young girls excited about their shoe box

 

Watch Ralph's story

Wanting to participate but need ideas? Check out these blogs:

100 Shoebox Ideas for Girls: OCC Gifts

100 Shoebox ideas for Boys

 And don't forget Pinterest for ideas:

Pinterest1  

Pinterest2  

There's lots more ideas out there but that will help you to get started! I'm personally working on an older girls box. I found a cute sewing kit at Ross and i'm going to buy 2 yards of fabric. I also found a cute little bead set too.  Please share if you plan on making a box and I would love to see pictures on my facebook page! Click the Contact Me button at the top of the page to find my facebook page. Then post away!

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Working on my tree

Here is the start of my tree. I'm trying to sketch it out first. My bottom right doesn't come down quite as far as it should though so I need to fix that but overall I think it works. Now let's see if I can actually transfer that to felt. lol. In case you missed it, this is what we're doing: Sew along advent calendar

Here is what i'm attempting to recreate courtesy of So Happy:









Have any of you started yet? I would love to see!

I still need to sew it together on my backing

EDIT - Here's the tree after I cut it out :)

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Advent Calendar

I'm sure most of you have heard about an advent calendar. We always had the little cardboard ones with chocolate behind the cut outs. I remember my brother used to sneak ahead and eat all the chocolate then close them back up. lol.

Photo from Stitch Craft Creations

Recently while looking around Pinterest I came across a felt advent calendar. I personally think they're gorgeous and I really want to make one. So after searching around online, I found a few bloggers who made some and got the general idea of how it goes. There's one blog in particular, Homemade by Jill, where she did a sew along and made an advent calendar with her readers. She did this 2 years ago but it started at the beginning of Nov and since it's now the beginning of Nov, i'm going to attempt to do this also! Now i'm going to warn you. I have very beginner sewing skills, and no embroidery knowledge (I think I used to embroider with my grandma when I was little?) but i'm going to try anyways. These are the sort of crafts that you can use every year and get passed down to your kids when they're adults.



So the question is, do you want to do this with me? I will post the link to her weekly challenge every week along with listing what i'm doing, and of course pictures!

So here's week 1!
Here is her assignment for the week:

• Cut your main backing piece (I am cutting mine to 20x30 inches)
• Cut your felt pockets and embroider them with numbers 1-24 (my pockets are cut 2 1/2 inches square).  She used a tight chain stitch to embroider her numbers.
• Sew the pockets to the backing piece (Great pocket tutorial from The Purl Bee)

Good luck! And please post if you're participating and picture if you have any :D

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