paper dolls - muñecas de papel

paper dolls - muñecas de papel,
originally uploaded by munieca.

My daughter loves paper dolls. The truth is I love paper dolls!!! Well, I recently found a free download for these adorable paper dolls. They were created by Maria Andrea Sardo. She suggests you print them on cardstock which will make them sturdier. Unlike many paperdolls these are large, full 8.5 X 11 sized dolls. They would be appropriate for younger children although my 8 year old daughter went crazy for them. So, I suggest you head over to Lulu and download and print them out today!

Praiseworthy Audio: Christmas Music

I love Christmas music and last year I started finding some like minded bloggers. These dedicated people buy up old albums at thrift stores, bring them home, check to see if they are available on CD and if they aren't they digitize and upload them to their blogs to share with other crazy people! Bongobells is one of the best. I feel that he makes a dedicated effort not to break copyright laws and graciously shares what he finds with the rest of us. His selection is eclectic and I have found many nice albums there. In addition today he had a special message reminding us all to remember why we are celebrating this time of year. To remember the birth of our blessed Lord and Saviour. I encourage you all to check out his site and perhaps you may also find something interesting there as well.

Praiseworthy Recipe: The Best-Ever Almond Toffee

For about 10 years now I've made Almond Toffee every year at Christmas. The very first time I made it was a success. Every year after a failure. I'm not sure why, but I could never recreate that first success. A few days ago on one of my favorite blogs, Cookie Madness, I found this recipe for The Best-Ever Almond Toffee. She wasn't kidding. It came out perfectly. Better than I have ever made. So, if this is a candy you have been wanting to master I suggest you head over to Anna's blog and try this recipe here. I wish you success!

Praiseworthy Toy: The Box

One of the highlights of my children's week is when we go to Costco and they pick out a new box to take home. It may sound crazy, but with all the toys in their rooms, they are more excited about getting a box to take home and cut up, color or do whatever too. Then at the end of the week, they throw it away and get a new one. Well, if this sounds like your kids I found this great site call Mr. McGroovy's Project Ideas. The projects are made out of cardboard boxes! I suggest you look for your materials in the back of an appliance store by the dumpster. Have fun!

Praiseworthy Video - A Different Frosty

I'm really loving this jazzy video of Frosty the Snowman today. I have actually never been a big fan of the Rankin Bass cartoon but I really enjoyed watching this and plan to share it with my children. I thought perhaps some of you might enjoy doing the same! I can't vouch for everything on YouTube, but this is a lot of good, clean fun.

Something fun! Ten Two Studios Holiday Countdown

There is just so much sharing goodness going on out there on the web during the Christmas season. You can find some of it at Lisa Vollrath's interesting craft site called Ten Two Studios. There are lots of ideas on this site for paper type crafts...artist trading cards, altered books, and the like. I love paper ephemera just because I do and she is sharing some right now! On several holidays throughout the year Lisa sets up a "holiday countdown." Each day she shares something new for download. She's doing it right now with Christmas themed items. Check it out here everyday between now and Christmas and start downloading!

Praiseworthy Review: The Glorious Coming

I hear so many at this time of year asking, "how can we make Christ the focus of our Christmas season?" One way is by doing Jesse Tree devotions. Last year I went on a quest to find the best Jesse Tree devotions. I think I have found it with Ann Voskamp's new The Glorious Coming.

What is a Jesse Tree? A Jesse Tree traces the lineage of Jesus. The idea is inspired by the bible verse in Isaiah 11:10 which prophecies the coming of Jesus, "At that time a root from Jesse will stand like a signal flag for the nations. Nations will look to him for guidance, and his residence will be majestic." There are a number of different ways to do a Jesse Tree, but most include daily devotions with a small symbol of that days devotion to hang on a tree or banner.

Ann Voskamp is a writer that I have long admired. Her writing can be sampled at her blog, The Holy Experience of Listening. It's beautiful, simple, and straight to the point. Ann graciously allowed me to preview The Glorious Coming and it did not disappoint. The devotions are simple for any child yet powerful enough for any adult. A wonderful activity for a family to engage in to focus on Christ during this Christmas season.

Another thing I like about this devotion is that, like so many of Ann's ventures, it benefits a fine charity, The Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child. And it's a downloadable e-book. This makes it easy to print out the ornaments included to go with each devotion for your kids to color. AND it makes it nice for anyone who has waited until the last minute to start devotions as you can download them today and get started! Visit her page to see samples and download A Glorious Coming today!

Praiseworthy Audio - The Cinnamon Bear

I have blogged before about how much my family loves listening to audio books in the car. It is really a life saver! For years we have listed to this old radio series, The Cinnamon Bear, about two children who discover an incredible bear in their attic at Christmas time. The Chirotoons have made this wonderful series available on mp3 for free at their site. There are 26 episodes so you could listen to one a day until Christmas. This offer also includes a free downloadable coloring book to go with the series. I encourage you to check out the Chirotoons other offerings at their site. They have a lot of very good quality old radio shows available in mp3 format at their site, Living Books for the Ears.