First order of business: Gnomes.

What’s the best crafters crack you can think of? For me it is the Hancock’s of Paducah fabric catalog. Vim comes running in waving it over his head whenever it arrives in our mailbox, sometime’s it’s good for the WTF? factor and sometimes for the omgosh I need that right now rush.

Let’s start with the new Michael Miller Flower Garden line. What’s in a flower garden? GNOMES, of course! There are three new gnome fabrics and all of them are cracking me up.

More from Michael Miller: Doughnuts and tea. You can’t go wrong and I’m pretty sure my brain has decided to go get doughnuts tomorrow. I guess I’ll go along with it.

Robert Kaufman has some new fabrics designed by Robin Pickens called Deco Park. Her color choices are amazing and these remind me of stained glass windows.

The Apple line designed by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures. Whoo! The Cream Orchard Owls fabric, Dotted Daisy and Fashion Apples all are great fabrics with a vintagey 70’s feel.

Looking for more Christmas Gnomes? Check these free DIY tutorials out :

DIY Pinecone Gnomes — CraftBits.com

Christmas Sock Gnomes

DIY Christmas Gnome Wreath — CraftBits.com

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As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations.

The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day.

It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.

Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita.

This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live.

Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience.

About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.

Have you read?