Diamond Art the Amazing New Craft

Seeing your child’s inner artist come out is so special as a parent. But with computer and phone screens everywhere you look it can be difficult to pull your kid away from their devices, especially when kids tire of coloring and painting as they age.  

Lucky for us parents, diamond painting is the new creative hobby that’s taking the arts and crafts world by storm. If you’re interested, I’d love to send you a Diamond Art Kit for review for inclusion in a gift guide or roundup.  

Diamond Art Kits are the perfect gift for the crafty kids in your life. As they place the diamonds one-by-one, the hours fly by as they channel their creativity into a stunning finished masterpiece. 

 

With designs ranging from movie characters, to nature scenes to portraits, there are hundreds of beautiful templates to work off of. 

My Thoughts 

This is amazing as it sounds. So relaxing and zen like. I am a very neurotic person that overthinks and worries about everything. I love things that make me zone out and I don't think about anything for awhile. Things like painting, puzzles, projects all are like therapy for me. This is definitely a fun project to put into that category now. When you unbox it you get ALL of diamonds in little individually wrapped packages with a number letter combo. Beautiful brightly colored jewels in tons of shades. I definitely recommend when you unwrap the canvas for the project that you put it on a table flat and put some heavy books to flatten it out. It is a little creased from being rolled up in the box.  It is definitely nice, soft canvas material. No paper here. Feels like good quality.
You can see a watermarked copy of your image in the background and you can see all the symbols and letters of the coordinating jewel that is supposed to go there. There is a symbol chart on the side of the canvas so you can match up the symbol with the jewel. It also has a protective plastic covering. I recommend only peeling that back for the section you are working on so you can recover it easily. I don't know if you are like me but I have so much dog hair in my house that I can be gone for two weeks and find it on myself before I even come back. Work from the edges into the middle. It comes with an applicator, wax pad, diamond tray, an applicator grip, some plastic baggies if you don't finish a color gem before you call it for the night. Pour some, not all, of the jewels into the tray. Trust me, if these suckers spill, you are going to be sorry. You take the little heart wax pad and dip your applicator into it. Than pick up a gem so the flat side is down and press it onto all of the coordinating symbols. You can do as much or as little as you want. Then whatever you do not finish you can pour into one of the baggies for the next time. Do one color at a time. There is only one tray and only a few baggies included. You don't want to try and do multiple colors or start a new one before you finish. Overall, this is good for teens, older kids, or adults. Crafters all over the world will love this, and you are left with a really fun project when you are done.

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Modern parenting just got a whole lot easier with these books. #bookreview

Today I'm telling you about three different parenting books and my thoughts on them

20 Tips for Parents: Managing Your Children’s Behavior in the Early Years

A realistic, practical, and down-to-earth look at dealing with many of the common concerns that parents have in managing the behavior of children from two to 10Based on his extensive years of work with parents and children, a pediatrician offers his advice on such common concerns as coping with tantrums, dealing with fussy or picky eaters, using discipline that works, deciding on how much TV and when, respecting and understanding children's feelings, separating behavior from the child's personality, and loving unconditionally. He also addresses how to identify bad advice and a parenting myths, and how to manage "helpful" advice from family member and friends. Catering from toddlers to early adolescence, the book's main message is for parents to stop trying to be perfect parents, as this often causes unnecessary pressure and anxiety. Instead it advises parents to focus on being a "good enough" parent. Along with a range of illustrative stories and examples from his many years of working with children and their parents, the author shows how a parents' own upbringing can unintentionally influence some of their parenting decisions. Additionally he dispels many of the common myths that are associated with parenting, and offers sensible alternative solutions that are evidence-based and proven to work.

My Thoughts (5 Stars)

This was a great book. It was filled with some great tips to help with every day issues and concerns that parents might have. There was advice from simple every day issues all the way to behavior issues that your child may be having.

My favorite tip was about saving your energy for things that really matter, as well as how to deal with unwanted advice from others.

I found the writing to be easy to read. It flowed well and kept me engaged.

***

Raising Competent Teenagers:…In an Age of Porn, Drugs and Tattoos

A how-to guide that can be read straight through, or dipped into for advice on more than 100 different issues common to parents of teens Traversing the teen years is tricky and challenging for most parents. Pornography, sex, cyber bullying, body piercing, drug experimentation, and tattoos are all part of adolescent life. How do you remain an effective, strong and compassionate parent, able to talk to your children as they become adult? This hands-on manual contains tools for keeping up communication with your teen. The author has distilled the wisdom of prominent parenting educators and her own knowledge as a medical doctor and also a mother of five children. More than 100 issues are discussed and are followed up with practical "what to do" ideas. Major areas discussed include brain and body changes, parent teen conflict, implementing rules and family values, saying no, narcissism and entitlement, and helicopter and tiger parenting.

My Thoughts (5 Stars)

As parents to modern kids, we have a lot of things to deal with that as teens, we didn't have to deal with. We had Internet, but porn wasn't a big thing then online, mainly just magazines. We didn't have to deal with being texted and being bullied online. Or the hurtful things friends might say about a photo we have on Facebook. This is all new and how to talk to our kids about it. My oldest is 11 and the teens years are right around the corner. However, being in middle school, he's exposed to a lot more than I would like.

This is a great go-to book when a issue arises and how to handle it and talk to your teen. This book was filled with so much advice, that I know it will come in handy very soon.

The parts I did read at this point, I found the writing to be good and flowed well. It caught me attention and held on to it.

***

Tricky Teens: How to Create a Great Relationship with Your Teen…Without Going Crazy! 

Help for any parent with a teenager who is chatty one day and morose the next, who refuses to come out of their room or get off their smart phone, or who argues endlessly with everyone around them. With warmth, good humor, and insight, a clinical psychologist offers crucial advice on achieving a happy home life while raising teens. He focuses on what is actually happening in the teenage brain; common issues that most teens face including anxiety, arguments, computer addiction, peer pressure, perfectionism, and self harm; ways to parent teenage boys and teenage girls—and why these methods differ; identifying and defusing clash points in the family; creating a detailed six-week plan that will help break negative behavior patterns within a family and create positive new ones; and essential conversations you can have with your teen, including information about love, money, drugs, jobs, and personal values, that will help shape them into the wonderful mature people you know they will be one day. For more than 30 years Andrew has worked with teens and their parents. Andrew stresses that teenage boys think and develop differently to teenage girls—and so he offers advice specific to each gender. Overall his main focus is on creating and nurturing open and solid relationships between parents and their teens that will lead into a well-balanced adulthood.

My Thoughts (5 Stars)

This is another book I did a quick look through, skimming and reading different parts that helped me at this time, since my son is still a pre-teen. I found a lot of useful tips in here and ways to keep my child engaged, as well, it explained why a child may kids may act out, etc. My son has anxieties already and a computer addiction. 

I liked that this book went over ways to parents a boy or a girl, and how they can be different in how we parent. While I haven't gotten to read this book all the way yet, what I did read, I learned a lot from and know that as my child gets older, I will have this book out all the time.

I really liked the authors writing and his voice. The book flowed very good and kept my attention.