Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Book Review – A Homemade Christmas

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A Homemade Christmas by Tina Barseghian

RRP $14.95

aking something with your own hands—whether it’s a plate of just-baked cookies, a handcrafted stocking, a homemade wreath, or a hand-folded origami ornament—is a great way to connect with the true meaning of Christmas.

From holiday decorating to gift giving, A Homemade Christmas is chock-full of projects, recipes, tips, and helpful hints that are guaranteed to add a homemade touch to your holiday season. Open this charming volume to any page and discover a wealth of practical and easy-to-accomplish ideas for a homemade holiday:

• create personal, distinctive holiday greetings

• deck the halls with festive, handmade trimmings

• cook simple but memorable homemade dishes

• make unique, handcrafted gifts

• share the joy of the season with friends and family

Packed with inspiration and how-tos for ideas that are family-friendly and eco-conscious, festive and meaningful, A Homemade Christmas will put homemade back into your holidays!

Comments

  1. I love you guys… however when I clicked through I did expect to see a book review rather than Amazon’s product description. I very much enjoy these types of books and would have like to hear what you personally though of the content. Maybe a better title would have been “New Book Release” or some such thing. Thanks for listening.

Have you read?

Resources for Teaching Cursive to Kids

The notion of the importance of teaching kids how to write cursive seems to wax and wane. While some schools have taken it out of their curriculum, many still see the value of learning how to write and read script. My daughter learned how to write in cursive and though she doesn’t need it often, I’m glad to know she has those skills anyway. 

If you’re a teacher or you want to teach your own children how to write in cursive, I found this great resource from The OT Toolbox that I think will help. They did a whole series of 31 days of posts about writing cursive and breaking down the skills that are needed to know how to form letters in cursive. It starts with the most basic elements — how and where a child is sitting, and how their paper is positioned.

It includes gross motor activities to get kids warmed up for writing, letter families and the starting lines used to start to form letters, tips for left handed students, letter identification, pencil grasp, writing speed and assessing problems, among other things. 

You’ll also find some cursive letter flash cards that can be used to help with writing practice or letter identification. 

You can find the whole series at The OT Toolbox. 

Looking for more tools to help kids learn cursive? I love these free cursive letter practice printables from Living Loving Lancaster, which include practicing individual letters and tracing letters to write quotes.

Or grab individual letter practice worksheets that just include the letter in upper and lower case for kids to practice. These are from Everyday Chaos and Calm and are a great way to start practicing the individual letter forms. They also include a little map at the top that shows which way to form the letter or in what order if there are multiple strokes involved. 

[Photo via The OT Toolbox]