creative jewish mom

Recycled Styrofoam Tray Craft With Paper Mache

Yes, you can make a gorgeous, artful and even useful tray from a recycled styrofoam meat/fish/food tray. I have a little secret to share with you all, and that is that with just a few crafty moves on your part, you canmake a stunning tray worthy of holding your fine jewelry, among other things. And how is that exactly, you may be thinking? Well, my friends the secret is simply combining two techniques that I mentioned yesterday in my post about DIY baby blocks, namely paper mache plus decoupage. Yes, meaning strips of gooey newspaper and then a finishing touch with a top layer of some beautiful decoupaged napkins, or any other paper that you'd like to use. And there you have it!

 And of course, your creations may just turn out to be so lovely that you'll want to use them on your dining room table, which is certainly fine as well.

 

You'll Need:

• recycled styrofoam trays
• newspaper and a flour/water or glue/water paste, plus my paper mache tutorial
• white acrylic craft paint (optional, not necessary if your last layer of paper mache is with white paper)
• beautiful napkins and mod podge or any decoupage medium, plus my  napkin decoupage tutorial

How To:

Cover tray with several layers of paper mache and set aside to dry. Either apply a layer of paper mache with white laser printer paper, or paint your paper mache surface white or cream. Apply a decorative layer of decoupage using images from the very delicate top layer of napkins, or just about any paper or imagery that suits you. Enjoy, and or course these would make great gifts, so be sure to make a bunch of them!

DIY Baby Blocks — Fun For Any Age

DIY baby blocks aren't just for babies, especially when they're covered with interesting illustrations or even messages that you can easily apply with decoupage. I made these DIY baby blocks with recycled scrap-pile wood pieces and covered them with a few layers of paper mache before adding the paper napkin images using decoupage. Truthfully, these crafty baby blocks would look cute sitting on a shelf anywhere, not just in the nursery!

You'll Need:

• wooden scraps or wooden blocks
• a white glue or white flour paste for paper mache
• paper mache tutorial
• white acrylic craft paint
• mod podge or any decoupage medium for decoupage
• napkins or other images for decoupage, and napkin decoupage tutorial

How To:

If using rough and not perfectly shaped blocks (as I did) cover them with a few layers of paper mache, and paint them white. Apply images using decoupage. If using napkins, use only the top layer with the image printed on it (napkins are usually three or four layers) and work very slowly to avoid tearing the napkin. Napkin decoupage will generally not produce a very perfectly smooth surface since it's almost impossible to apply the very thin napkin images with no creases. Use your imagination and make lots of fun blocks for play or even as a way of displaying some of your favorite images.

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

 

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Great to have you back again this week, and hope you'll be as inspired as I am by all the amazing projects that the crafters out there are dreaming up!

For starters, I just love this colorful necklace from minieco made from slices of colored pencils, and look at this beautiful melted candy tea stirrer from can't stop making things!

 Rosi Jo from Italy made this super sweet crocheted plant holder, and I just love what michele made me did with junk mail, now you'll never need to buy wrapping paper again!

 

These paper bag luminaries by Aunt Peaches are just lovely, and look how amazing her table looks, wow! Just take a closer look: green candles in jars filled with course salt, tulips in small recycled glass bottles, and lots of color.

These spools made from slices of tree branches by carolyn's homework are a wonderful way to store and display yarn and string or even ribbon, and I just love between the lines added some simple embellishments to her espadrilles, so great for summer.

And for some beautiful summer candlelight, Camilla over at family chic wrapped a thrift store candle stick in zebra patterned duct tape, and from at second street, you can learn how to make some simple yet stunning etched glass candle holders.

To view the links added by participants to this weeks party, please click "continue reading" below:

Slice of Life - Berkeley In Bloom, Gorgeous Flowering Shrubs

As you may have figured out by now, I have actually been away from my home in Israel for the past few weeks visiting with my mother in California and now with family in New York. I feel so very fortunate to have made the visit this year in the Spring, as the show of flowering shrubs and plants everywhere is just spectacular. For starters I thought I'd share with you some of the gorgeous flowers we saw on our walks around Berkeley, where I was so very inspired by so many gorgeous gardens. Above, flowering roses at the Rose Garden on Euclid Avenue in North Berkeley, and a flowering Camellia bush. 

Rhododendrons in a purple and pink and red and white are on show everywhere. Wow. And our beloved California poppy is making a great show too!

Nastertiums in bloom at the Berkeley Marina, as well as this interesting plant with cone shaped stalks of tiny purple flowers, which I would love to know more about and saw in many places, so I'm assuming it's drought resistant. Anybody know what this is?

Vivid magenta flowers of the ice plant succulent, and budeliah blooms on the shore of the San Francisco Bay, at the Berkeley Marina.

And calla lillies are in bloom in so many gardens, a very popular bulb so I see!

A public path is lined with some purple wild flowers, and another glimpe of the gorgeous rhododendron bush, seen in many gardens, especially those of older homes.  I'm quite sure there are gorgeous flowers in bloom all around the northern hemisphere, so don't forget to enjoy them yourself, and do share your love of flowers with others!
 

Vacation Crafts- Nature Crafts With Rosebuds

Here's another super simple vacation or any time craft, courtesy of my eight year old daughter! I'll have to admit, I was eyeing the plate of rose petals that my mother had put aside to add to her "organic" recycling bin, as they were just so lovely. And sure enough, when I got up the next morning, my daughter had already figured out that with just a stapler and some rose petals and leaves, one can make some beautiful artful roses! So my friends, add a stapler and some staples to your traveling craft kit and let the kids go to town stapling leaves and petals, either to paper or just to themselves, and sit back and watch what they come up with! And on the afternoon just before the holiday of Shavuos when many children love to decorate the house with leaves and flowers collected in nearby fields (if you are fortunate to have some....) well, a stapler might just come in handy this year!

Recycled Paper Bag Flowers

Believe me, there is something really interesting and beautiful about recycled paper bag flowers. Flowers made from recycled lunch bags and recycled grocery bags (like the large flower above) are wonderful, and it's especially nice to combine a few different types of recycled paper bags that may be slightly different shades of brown. And with the Jewish holiday of Shavuos quickly approaching, well, it's time to make flowers! And in my book, the more the better, so grab some paper bags, a bit of wire, a pair of scissors and you're in business!  And while these paper bag flowers are far from traditional, they actually look great in my mother's mid-century modern living room, so I think you can feel safe even giving them as a fun gift to someone with any style home.

 You'll Need:

• recycled brown paper bags, any size
• wire, sturdy is best, but if you've got flimsy wire or pipe cleaners you can always re-inforce the stem with more wire if necessary
• scissors

How To:

1. Cut 10 concentric circles, about 5 on the larger side, and 5 on the smaller side. Combine different colored brown paper bags in one flower if possible, and let some of the printed lettering show if desired as well.
2. Crumple all the circles into little balls, and unfold
3. Stack the circles with the smallest on top and the largest on the bottom.
4.  Using something sharp, pierce two holes side by side and through all the layers.
5. Thread the wire up the stack through one of the holes, and then down through the stack through the second hole, and twist two ends of the wire together to form the stem.
6. Take each layer and fold and crumple the edges while bringing the sides up towards the center. Play around a little until you're happy with the shape of your flower.
7. Make a bunch and enjoy!
   
   

Vacation Crafts: Paper Lunch Bag Bird's Nests

Lunch bag bird's nests with modeling clay eggs are really fantastic and a great project to do on the road, since there's minimal mess and the supplies are certainly simple. I was so inspired by this original idea by Camilla over at family chic that I sat down with my kids just as soon as I spied some brown lunch bags taking up cabinet space at my mother's house. To make the project just a bit more interesting for the kids, I came up with the idea of making modeling clay eggs for our paper bag bird's nests and I just love the results.

My five year old had a great time filling his paper bag nest to the brim with eggs, while my eight year old daughter added a sweet modeling clay chic to her lunch bag nest. Gotta love the little worm she added too!

 
While I recommend following the link above for the tutorial, do note that for modeling clay eggs, which are probably much smaller than the plastic ones used in the tutorial, you should cut the bag down at a point just above the bottom crease, or your nests will be too big. And, do save the part of the bag that you cut off, because tomorrow I'll be posting a project that will use those leftovers!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, and another inspiring get together! As always, it's so great to see so many new contributors from around the world, and this week I was especially happy to "see" a new face from Grenada! And I almost forgot to mention that today is the Jewish holiday of L'Ag B'Omer, so for those of you lighting safe bonfires on Saturday night and enjoying the holiday on Sunday with parades and picnics, enjoy! That's all for now, thanks so much for coming.

First off, I'm totally inpsired by this simple mustache mug by from the tortoise and the hare, and this wonderful bird's nest pendant by dressed with strength, gorgeous!

I just love these simple ric rack dish towels from aesthetic nest, almost too gorgeous to use, but quick enough to make that you could always have a fresh pair on hand! And here's another example of a simple project that's quick to make, this super cute covered button headband from the mother huddle.

Aren't these bee rocks from crafts by Amanda wonderful? I'm sure you can come up with a bunch of animals using wire and rocks too! And speaking of creativity, tinkerlab has a really wonderful marble slide project that would be great for any age, I'd like to make one myself!

 

And take a look at these hamburger cookies from come together kids, aren't they just too cute? And speaking of cute, check out these toilet paper tube giraffes from red ted art, they'd be especially great hanging on some elastic thread!

 
And Mich in LA is at it again with her inventiveness, this time she's using those glow in the dark ceiling stars to make jewelry, how great is that for a night out? And this little appliqued onsie from cup of delight is just adorable, for your baby or someone else's! 

To view the links added by participants to this weeks party, please click "continue reading" below:

Baking Challah With Children

Baking challah with kids is a great activity to do together in the kitchen, and a wonderful way to help them develop a love for this timeless Jewish tradition. When I bake their favorite challah recipe, there's always plenty of dough to let the kids have fun shaping little loaves which they'll proudly eat at our Shabbat table Friday night.

 
I'd recommend spending a little time practicing braiding and shaping rolls with modeling clay, such that when it comes time to work with the real thing everyone will feel confident and there will be smiles all around. And don't forget to let the kids brush on the egg white and sprinkle on some sesame seeds, the final touch before baking. And if your kids aren't around when you find the time to make challah, why not save a little dough for them in the fridge?

Vacation Crafts- Rubber Band Balls

Rubber band balls are great vacation crafts since they're not messy, require very few supplies and could even be made in the car! Plus rubber band balls double as a science experiment of sorts, and could be a fun gift to leave behind if you're visiting friends or family. I would love a bowl of these on my desk! And funny enough the merchandisers over at Target seem to agree with me, as after we made ours I saw some very neat looking ones for sale in their office supply section! But I'd say go for the homemade kind, especially if your brothers had paper routes and there are still bags of rubber bands hanging around your mom's house!

You'll Need:

• a small ball of some kind, or even a very tight ball made from a wad of newspaper
• rubber bands in a nice assortment of colors
• a sense of humor for when the kids realize that rubber bands are great for shooting too!

Enjoy!