Friday, January 31, 2014

LearningCandy

I am so excited to share a post with you today from LearningCandy.  This company was started by a Mom for kids.  Miss Lana's mission is to foster curiosity, confidence and give inspiration to every child to help them succeed in life and to help teach parents how to do that! I cannot think of a better goal.  I have tried to instill those same qualities in my two boys and I love participating in activities that will help them achieve this goal and grow up to do the same with their future families.

LearningCandy offers fun personalized products for children with themes including History, Geography, Math, Science, Marine Animals, The Solar System, Emotions, Big Brother/Sister, Character, Inspiration and others.

Check out their blog with great articles with ideas for you and the kids in your life:  

They also have FREE activities and printables to get the creativity flowing! 

I hope you take a moment to check out this fun and unique resource for successful kids.

- Krista         



A Gift For Kids Every Parent Will Approve of

One of the best gifts we can give our kids (besides our unconditional love) is the gift of a love of learning.  Curious, inquisitive kids think proactively, they love exploring, it's easier for them to learn new things and they tend to achieve greater success in life.

Did you know that 90% of a child's brain is developed by age 5? No time is more important for developing mentally healthy, happy, inquisitive people who will contribute greatly to the lives they touch.

How can we help our kids develop a love of learning from an early age?

Easy! Just play and talk with them!

It's true. It's that easy.  Well, almost.

Research is clear: by consistently stimulating young kids' brain through interactive learning, you grow their learning muscle while instilling within them a life long sense of curiosity and exploration.  The most important thing you can do to help increase your child's IQ and build a solid foundation for future academic and life success is to build strong language skills from birth.  Do not wait for the child to start school. We never get those critical first five years back.

LearningCandy.com offers families tools and resources to have the all-important intentional conversations, to spend quality time bonding and to help get kids excited about learning and knowing. 



LearningCandy was founded in 2013 by a mom on a mission to foster success in kids.  We offer fun, unique, educational gifts every kid will love and every parent will approve of.  


For little kids, our fun personalized products help families spark a love of learning.  For big kids, our inspirational line of character-building gear addresses issues such as confidence, no bullying and self-awareness.


To support our mission further, a portion of our profit is going to be donated to Jumpstart, a non-profit focused on early learning.

We are inviting you to work with us to raise awareness that families can make a profound difference in kids' lives and open the world of opportunities by getting them excited about learning, by becoming their best teachers and by encouraging them to take an active life position.

If you share our beliefs and hopes for a better society we encourage you to tell your friends and family about the work we do. Connect with us on social networks, grab our button and get in touch to share ideas and feedback. We would love to hear from you (info@learningcandy.com)!

When visiting www.learningcandy.com join our mailing list for inspirational and educational articles, free printables and exciting updates. 
  

Resources:

Find easy but effective kids activity ideas on our blog

Get Free activity printables

Read the first article in our new series: Parenting Lessons From Successful People: Richard Branson

Related Links:



I am proud to be a:

Get Kids Excited About Learning - LearningCandy Cause Partner

Valentine's Giveaway!

What's better than a Valentine's giveaway that includes one of my absolute favorite products? How about a Valentine's giveaway with nine of my favorite bloggers and all of THEIR favorite products too?!

That's right- we've put together a Products We Love to Love giveaway for ONE lucky winner! The entire giveaway is valued at $245!

Check out what you can win:


Rodan and Fields Foaming Sunless Tan
"I'm So Tired" t-shirt from Hello Apparel 
Sterling Silver Bow Bracelet from Monica at Vintage Stamp Jewels
Bath and Body Works 3-wick Stress Relief Candle
$10 Target Gift Card
 $5 Starbucks Gift Card

Meet Your Hostesses:


I'm an Atlanta native who married my high school sweetheart six years after we started dating and six months after we graduated from Furman and Clemson (GO TIGERS!). We bought our first home back in 2010 and renovated the entire house before moving in. We have a golden retriever puppy named Tally and look forward to adding "real" kids to our family in the future. :)
Heather is giving away the Bath and Body Works 3-wick Stress Relief Candle.

I'm a California girl, born & raised! I love Jesus, wine, coffee, photography & throwing parties. Target is my Happy Place. I am a part time 7th grade math teacher and have been teaching for 10 years. I just recently became an Independant Consultant for Rodan + Fields. I have been married to Kevin for 11 years and we have 3 sweet kids. Kate is 7, Claire is 5 and our baby boy Luke is 17 months old.
Mel is giving away the Rodan and Fields Foaming Sunless Tan.

3. Elizabeth @ E, Myself, and I
I am a wife to my high school sweetheart Jeff, momma to two-year-old Sam, and English teacher to 75 ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders.  In my "free time" I moonlights as a blogger at E, Myself, and I where I chronicles my journey into adulthood and my attempts at salvaging a tiny bit of my former “Type A” self. I write about being a working mom, teaching, organizing, decorating, party planning, and The Bachelor, and I'm not afraid to laugh at myself when necessary. I am passionate about connecting women and helping them find freedom in living their real lives with grace, humor, and a strong cup of coffee.
Elizabeth is giving away "I'm So Tired" t-shirt from Hello Apparel.

4. Megan @ m for love
I'm the mama, wife and writer behind the lifestyle blog m for love. When you visit, you can expect to find pieces of our life, laughter, love, and faith (Oh, and a bit of fashion for good measure.)
Megan is giving away the Smashbox Wonder Vision Eye Set in Flash.

5. Tiffany @ The Dwelling Tree
I am a coffee-addict, runner during free time, and follower of Jesus. I am married to a super outdoorsy man who keeps me on my toes and has a cute toddler named Lillian who likes to make dinosaur noises. Follow my many adventures at The Dwelling Tree! 
Tiffany is giving away the Sterling Silver Bow Bracelet.

I'm a smitten wife, animal lover, Jesus follower, TV enthusiast, and home decor fanatic.  After living in Atlanta all of my life, my husband and I moved to Orange County, California where we are adjusting easily to the constant sunshine, lack of humidity (Praise the Lord!), and abundance of gourmet cupcakes. I recently started my own organizing company and love to make people's lives a little easier. I'm also slightly obsessed with our three fur babies, Maisy, Mr. Pepper, and Diego, so you'll be seeing a lot of them on my blog!
Julie is giving away a Target Gift Card, Starbucks Gift Card, and Valentine's Day DVD.

I am a military wife and Mom of two amazing and rambunctious boys.  I spend my time divided between my job as a 2 and 3 year old preschool teacher, a Tiger Cub Scout Leader, the Second Counselor in my church women's group, and chauffeuring my boys to their school, sport, and scouting activities.  I love to make things with my own hands.  I love a good story! Movies, books, art, and music all hold a special place in my heart. The most important thing I can do in life is to spend time with my family. I believe in a lifetime of learning and that life is too short for bad food! 
Krista is giving away the Pampered Chef Ice-Cream Scoop and Chocolate Caramel Sauce.

8. Samantha @ Samantha Elizabeth
My blog is about all things I hold dear to my heart... my faith, family, cooking, photography, and travel.  My hope is that my blog will bring inspiration, positive encouragement and perhaps a laugh or two to its readers.  I am a wife to a wonderful guy named Dusty and mother to an adorable fur-baby named Gus. 
Samantha is giving away the gorgeous Red Wrap Necklace and Gold Arrow Ring.

9. Bekah @ re•solve
re•solve is a personal self improvement blog focusing primarily on my green, vegetarian lifestyle with elements of faith and marriage thrown in!
Bekah is giving away Arbonne's Nourishing Daily Conditioner

10. Heather Lynne @ Raising Memories
I'm Heather Lynne.  I'm a Canadian wife and mom to 2 daughters. I blog about fun things parents can do with & for their kids.  These ideas and tutorials are mixed in with my photography,
photography tips and any other crafty attempts I make! You can also find a
Linky on my blog each weekend- I'd love to see you there! :)
Heather Lynne is giving away the Mabel's Labels Basic Kit.


Now for the GIVEAWAY!

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Fabulous Features from Great Idea Thursday's #39

Welcome to the Fabulous Features from the last Great Idea Thursday's Link Party! I hope that you enjoyed your week mine was full of snow! And becuase of such I have had my house full of kids instead of kids at school... I am so glad that ya'll came to join the party! Thanks for making my day! If you weren't Featured this week, it doesn't mean I didn't love what you brought, come back next week! Be sure to check out the Features over at Joy Bee What's for Dinner too! Also, if I haven't left a comment for you, I'm sorry, I'm still playing catch up! I will stop by soon :)

If you are Featured, Grab a Button because you're Awesome!

Grab button for Featured on A Handful of Everything
<div class="A Handful of Everything-button" style="width: 150px; margin: 0 auto;"> <a href=" http://ahandfulofeverything.blogspot.com " target="_blank"> <img src=" http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/Krista_Low/1d9ab56d-55ab-4989-8038-5e5a5124ac65_zps8f0806cb.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 1d9ab56d-55ab-4989-8038-5e5a5124ac65_zps8f0806cb.jpg" alt="A Handful of Everything" width="150" height="150" /> </a> </div>

Fabulous Features from Great Idea Thursday's - #39

Most Viewed





Sweet Features







Featured Crafts



Wohoo! Are you feeling the love? If you're not you will be after checking out these features!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Great Idea Thursday's - 40

Welcome to:


So, growing up in Utah snow was just part of life in the winter.  Being in Virginia gives snow a whole new meaning!  My boys had a long weekend because of the holiday weekend so there was no school last Monday. They went to school on Tuesday but it was early release because of the snow storm coming in.  Over the night we accumulated 2 inches of snow and there was no school.  Thursday there was no school because of the ice on the roads and Friday was an already scheduled day off.  So I unexpectedly had my kids home all week, which was fun playing in the snow but it totally threw off all my plans. This week Monday was a day off, Tuesday they went to school but had early release because of the snow storm coming and Wednesday morning we woke up to about 6 inches of snow... Are you seeing any similarities here? lol. I'm glad the kids got their snow, they were so sad that they weren't getting any and out front of my house their snow cave and fort are proudly displayed.  So despite the lack of school and plans thrown out the window I guess I will roll with it. "Let it Snow!"

Please give a great big howdy to my fabulous Co-Host:

Joybee, What's for Dinner?

See Great Idea Thursday's There too!
Follow Miss Joy Bee:


Great Idea Thursday's #40

Come share what you have been doing every week! If you are interested in Co-Hosting this party with us, shoot me an e-mail me:  kristascookin {at} gmail {dot} com.

Grab button for A Handful of Everything
<div class="A Handful of Everything-button" style="width: 150px; margin: 0 auto;"> <a href="http://ahandfulofeverything.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"> <img src=" http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/Krista_Low/2d59056e-a962-4a79-bbef-b7f05a43dea9_zps94a044c8.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 2d59056e-a962-4a79-bbef-b7f05a43dea9_zps94a044c8.jpg " alt="A Handful of Everything" width="150" height="150" /> </a> </div>

 photo twitter_zps88bd9661.png  photo pinterest_zps8e7192c4.png  photo facebook_zps7e73c851.png   photo googleplus_zpsc749eee2.png  photo bloglovin_zps7b8b0a10.png 
  • Please follow me
  • Please link directly to your post not your home page.
  • Share the love - please visit and comment on at least 2 other posts.  Everyone loves comments :)
  • Grab a Button or text link back to A Handful of Everything
  • Thank you for stopping by to Party! Have Fun!
This is what I posted this week:



Granny-Guru:


Strut Your Stuff!

Monday, January 27, 2014

Granny-Guru: Can I Just Take a Nap?





Can I Just Take a Nap?

Readers know the classic book for reading your grandchildren to sleep, “Goodnight, Moon.” A new classic has been introduced, “Can I Just Take a Nap?
English: A bowl of Cheerios
A bowl of Cheerios (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ron Rauss, architect, poet and first-time children’s book author, decided to enter a contest in 2010 that Cheerios hosts every year for new children’s book authors. He won, beating out more than 8,000 entries.
Simon and Schuster published his book and General Mills, owner of Cheerios cereal, put a small, paperback version in three million boxes of Cheerios. Now, it’s out in hardback. Although Rauss is also an illustrator, his publisher chose Rob Shepperson to illustrate this book.
This is the sweet story of a sleepy little boy who wanders all over trying to find a quiet place where he can take a nap. Author Rauss says it was really a story about how tired he was as a new, stay-at-home Dad.



New parents and grandparents, unused to the early rise and unbounded energy of children and grandchildren, can relate. But, grandparents also know that one of the ways to get a tired grandchild down for a nap or down for the night is to have a soothing ritual, like reading to them in bed, or just before you take them to bed.
The child in this book, Aiden, was named after Rauss’s own, now four-year-old son. A book soon to follow will feature Rauss’s 18-month-old son, Jaxon.
Order the book from amazon for your own new sleepytime tradition by clicking on the title, “Can I Just Take a Nap?


 Carol Covin, Granny-Guru

Friday, January 24, 2014

Honey Bear Counted Cross-Stitch


I love to cross-stitch.  I remember learning how to do some really basic ones when I was in elementary school and then tackling some bigger counted cross-stitch projects in middle school.  When my boys were born I made a little sampler for each of them but this was the largest project I had ever made.

I originally bought the kit at JoAnn's however after searching online so I could give you the link I learned that it is a discontinued kit. I saw a few on E-bay, and you can find it at:

Cross-Stitch World
Sunset Dimensions: Honey Bear by Doug Knutson
Counted Cross Stitch
14x9"
Kit No. 13696 / UPC: 088677136921


It is a large piece (14x9") and took me about 2 years to complete.  I would work on it, put it away then bring it out and work on it some more.  It was a great project to do watching TV at night or during playgroup when my kids were little.  I love hand stitching because it's very relaxing to me and you can still carry on conversation while you work.  I completed it when we lived in Arizona and it has moved with us and hangs in it's own special little corner in our home.


I love making projects like this because you can see all your hard work.  Normally a night watching TV is gone, wasted. But when you work on a project at the same time, at least you have something beautiful to show for it!

Every time I walk past it I remember how long it took me to complete, it seems like such a long time for one picture.  But I did it, I finished.  One stitch at a time.  Almost like a metaphor to life.  When you are working on a project or muddling through a hard part of life, you have to untie knots, separate strings, unpick where you miscounted, and do sections all over again. With practice it gets easier but inevitably another mistake will happen. Looking up from the bottom all you see is a tangled mess of colorful strings. Some brown and black along with all the other colors of the rainbow.  Over time a picture starts to take shape.  Little by little everything comes together and you can see what it was supposed to be all along.

Image Credit: http://melonheadsldsillustrating.blogspot.com/2011/05/quotes-and-wordies.html

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Fabulous Features from Great Idea Thursday's 38

Welcome to the Fabulous Features from the last Great Idea Thursday's Link Party! I hope that you enjoyed the long weekend last week, and I am so glad that ya'll came to join the party! Thank you so much for linking up! If you weren't Featured this week, it doesn't mean I didn't love what you brought, come back next week! Be sure to check out the Features over at Joy Bee What's for Dinner too!

If you are Featured, Grab a Button because you're Awesome!

Grab button for Featured on A Handful of Everything
<div class="A Handful of Everything-button" style="width: 150px; margin: 0 auto;"> <a href=" http://ahandfulofeverything.blogspot.com " target="_blank"> <img src=" http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/Krista_Low/1d9ab56d-55ab-4989-8038-5e5a5124ac65_zps8f0806cb.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 1d9ab56d-55ab-4989-8038-5e5a5124ac65_zps8f0806cb.jpg" alt="A Handful of Everything" width="150" height="150" /> </a> </div>

Fabulous Features from Great Idea Thursday's - 38

Most Viewed



Featured Sweets



Featured Crafts

Winter Fun Pom Bottles by Lisa @ Hoopla Palooza





Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Great Idea Thursday - 39

Welcome to:


It was a three day weekend this past week and we made use of our extra time.  My family and I traveled to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and although many of the shops and restaurants were closed because we were visiting in the off season, we still had an amazing time! We found a fun Donut place called Duck Donut's that makes fresh old fashioned cake donuts to order that was a favorite for both of my boys.  We also found a great kite shop, Kitty Hawk Kites and spent two days at Jockey Ridge enjoying the winds.  There was a fun little aquarium and two National Parks that made our to do list.  Had we planned a little more time we would have made the drive down to Cape Hatteras, but my boys didn't mind.  One of the favorite adventures was our walk along the beach.  We found driftwood, tons of sea shells, and mermaid purses.  The favorite find was an old tire.  On the way home we stopped at the Grave Digger Diner at ate lunch and checked out four of the old Grave Digger Monster Trucks on the property.  That was another favorite!  Now we are home and the boys aren't happy about being back to the normal routine and school... Oh well, all good things must come to an end :)  What did you do this weekend?

Please give a great big howdy to my fabulous Co-Host:
Joybee, What's for Dinner?

See Great Idea Thursday's There too!
Follow Miss Joy Bee:


Great Idea Thursday's #39

Come share what you have been doing every week! If you are interested in Co-Hosting this party with us, shoot me an e-mail me:  kristascookin {at} gmail {dot} com.

Grab button for A Handful of Everything
<div class="A Handful of Everything-button" style="width: 150px; margin: 0 auto;"> <a href="http://ahandfulofeverything.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"> <img src=" http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/Krista_Low/2d59056e-a962-4a79-bbef-b7f05a43dea9_zps94a044c8.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 2d59056e-a962-4a79-bbef-b7f05a43dea9_zps94a044c8.jpg " alt="A Handful of Everything" width="150" height="150" /> </a> </div>

 photo twitter_zps88bd9661.png  photo pinterest_zps8e7192c4.png  photo facebook_zps7e73c851.png   photo googleplus_zpsc749eee2.png  photo bloglovin_zps7b8b0a10.png 
  • Please follow me
  • Please link directly to your post not your home page.
  • Share the love - please visit and comment on at least 2 other posts.  Everyone loves comments :)
  • Grab a Button or text link back to A Handful of Everything
  • Thank you for stopping by to Party! Have Fun!
This is what I posted this week:

Author Interview: Debra Rogers - He Did You a Favor



Guest Blogger: Granny-Guru


Your turn!

Print Friendly

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...