creative jewish mom

Origami Crane Mobile With Pom Poms...Perfect Anytime!

Origami paper cranes folded from brightly colored origami paper are perfect for making festive mobile decorations that you can leave up for months. Believe me! Because honestly, I made these origami crane decorations for my daughters birthday party back in July, and they looked amazing as Hanukkah decor as well! I think I'll take them down as we prepare for Tu B'Shevat, the next Jewish holiday, but I'll pack them away carefully to use again in the future.

You can certainly make strings of origami cranes as I did, and rather than hang them from your dining room chandelier, hang them from embroidery hoops or two crossed sticks, mobile style. That's my felt Hanukkah wall hanging there in the background, a perfect match color wise, lucky for me! 

 And an origami crane baby mobile would be just fabulous, with a view something like this for the little one!

I also used some of my origami crane garlands to hang from some wall sconces, which looks great too! The main thing is to make as many as possible, as they look fabulous in numbers!

You'll Need:

 

• origami paper
• colorful crochet thread, or the string of your choice
• small craft pom poms
• plastic "pony" beads
• a long needle

How To:

Fold your origami cranes according to instructions you can find on YouTube or google. Once I got the hang of it it took me about 6-7 minutes to fold one crane. 

Using a long needle, string origami cranes on a long string, by placing a pony bead on the string and tying a knot around it and then adding a crane to the string, such that the bead holds the crane in place, and looks nice! Alternate pom poms and cranes, spacing them out evenly. To decorate my chandelier, I used five strands with three origami cranes and 5 strands with two origami cranes, (my chandelier has 10 arms) and 1 strand of three origami cranes hanging in the center, for a total of 28 origami cranes.

And together with the four origami crane garlands that I used to decorate the wall, I made a total of 40 cranes! You can too, and you'll be very happy that you did! And I actually made these by myself late one night as a birthday surprise, but this certainly be a great family activity for adults and teenagers! 

Chinese Jewelry Pouch Bunting Banner!

A Chinese jewelry pouch bunting banner, for decoration or even as a fun way to keep your jewelry safe but at hand. I came across these little pouches that I'd collected as a girl in a bag of goodies from my mother, and they just shouted out to me bunting banner! And dear readers, you can't get much simpler than that, since you just string them on a nice ribbon and hang!

These little pouches are available at any Chinese import store and are generally quite inexpensive, so have fun with this idea, I think it's perfect for a little girl's room, or even as a birthday party decoration. You could then hand out the little pouches as party favors at the end, maybe with a sweet little ring inside. Or, hey, you could add numbers to the pouches, or names, and use your banner as a place to leave little messages or treats for family members or count down to an important day.

Winter Tree From Recycled Cardboard

How about making some recycled corrugated cardboard trees to bring a little playful air to your home this winter? Tu B'Shevat (the New Year for the trees) is the next Jewish holiday on the calender, so I've got trees on my mind! I really love the graphics on the corrugated sleave from our flats of eggs and am so happy with how this little tree turned out. Simple to make and would look great parading down the center of a table.

As Spring approaches add leaves and blossoms or even little fruit to your little trees, bringing them to life. How fun is that?  

The tree is made by cutting out two identical trees and then making a slit in the trunk on one from bottom to top, and in the other from top to bottom. You then slide one piece down onto the other, and voila you have yourself a fun 3 dimensional tree that could be the start of so many fun projects. 

For more info and a diagram of a slightly different tree, but one that shows where to place the slits, see my cherry blossom tree craft from the archives. Enjoy!

Pom Pom Yarn For Last Minute Decorating

Pom pom yarn is fantastic for crafting just about any time! I can't say that I would have thought to buy some, but saw a skein for 1 Euro at a discount store in Amsterdam and so I snatched it up. Yup, the last skein waiting for me, which seems to have been a theme of my trip, given my zpagetti story here. After I examined the pom pom yarn, it dawned on me that it would be perfect for making instant pom pom garlands! Of course you don't have to stop there, here's just a few ideas to get you started. Wouldn't pom pom yarn be the perfect baby shower decor? 

Glass vases or recycled jars are great for holding votives or candles placed in shot glasses. Wrap them with pom pom yarn and you've got yourself an amazing centerpiece!

I use our dining room chandelier as a focal point for all of our holiday decorations, and so naturally I starting by draping it with pom pom yarn. Some crocheted ornaments will follow to complete the look, but it also looks great as it!

Use pom pom yarn on your table as napkin rings or to tie together a place setting of silverware, a fun look for a casual get together. And or course I'm sure you can think of many more ways to use pom pom yarn here and there to create a joyful atmosphere in your home this holiday season! And of course, you can knit or crochet some great scarves and hats (it's great for adding little puffy details too...)with the yarn after you sit back to gaze upon your crafty and quick decorating!

Giant Paper Flowers For Your Fall Table

Guess what? You're in luck, I do think that giant paper flowers made in cremes and neutral tones look great right about now. Imagine a little candle light, some glitter, a little something rustic, like maybe some burlap or a table runner made out of pieces of aged wood, and you've got yourself a really unique look that while not using the traditional fall colors, will certainly be gorgeous and transition well into the December holiday season! Phew. Got it? 

And come December, so you could add a little gilded or glittered edge to your flowers. Okay you're right. You want to see my version first and then you'll decide. Gotcha. I'm gonna try it! Of course I understand if you do love browns and oranges and just really feel out of sorts without them, so if that's the case use those colors for the flower centers, attach the centers very lightly, and to keep on enjoying those flowers in December and January and on, so swap the center for something that feels right for winter.

For complete information on how to make these wonderful oversized paper flowers, see my previous post and tutorial here.

DIY Cake Flags Festive Anytime

These DIY cake flags are just about the simplest thing one can make as a gorgeous cake topper. If you have the supplies on hand you can make these in literally minutes and your cake will be the most stylish in town! And though I made these for my daughter's birthday, I think these would be great for Rosh HaShana or any holiday for that manner. But their regal look seems just right for the New Year. You could even put them in individual apples and place an apple on each plate for a really festive and fun table setting!

 

Here's the cake in all it's glory, just don't look too closely at my very amateur icing job. I even debated as to whether to show you this! But then I realized that even though this blog is a tightly edited version of my real life, it is good to "show it like it is" sometimes, within reason of course!  Nonetheless, I was happy with the total presentation, and I did move up a notch in my cake decorating, so that's what counts! The cake stand was originally brown metal, which I spray painted white, and accented by simply weaving my sparkly pink ribbon through the holes. The cake itself is a three layer chocolate cake, also a first for me, but these flags definitely look their best on a cake with height, so there you have it!

You'll Need:

• wooden skewers
• wired 1/2" metallic silver ribbon
• sparkly glitter ribbon, about 3/8"
• glue or double stick tape

How To:

For the pink flags, wrap a piece of ribbon around the skewer and adhere with glue or double stick tape. Cut the exact length you want, keeping the flags at least an inch long. Cut a triangular notch out of the end of the ribbon.

For the silver flags, cut a piece of ribbon about 6" in length. Make a loop, wrap the loop around the skewer and  pull the ends through the loop. Yes, it's that simple! Play with the ribbon to make waves in it such that it looks like it's rippling in the breeze. 

And by the way, these flags are a combination of two different ideas I've seen around the net, but not directly knocked off of any one place, or I'd certainly link to them. I did however see that there is something similar for sale in the new wedding division of Anthropology, so I guess this could be considered as joining the club as an Anthropology knock-off?

 

Wine Bottle Vases Decoupaged With Tissue Paper

Remember those wine bottles that I spray painted white and made a bunch of DIY wine bottle vases? Remember that tissue paper that the kids stamped on to make our own DIY wrapping paper? Remember these DIY pom pom flowers? Well, isn't it nice to combine the efforts from several projects and come up with yet another? Here it is— painted wine bottles decoupaged with printed tissue paper. So sweet and the perfect look for a birthday party, baby shower or really any time to bring a little joy into your home. I've actually had these on our Shabbat table for a few weeks!

You'll Need:

• recycled wine and liquor bottles, spray painted with a primer, and then white
• printed/stamped tissue paper, more info here
• mod podge or a mixture of white glue and water
• a brush to apply the mod podge

How To: You can choose to cover the entire bottle with tissue paper, as we did with the polka dotted versions, or cut pieces of tissue paper and decoupage that as I did with the large circles. Either way, brush some mod podge or glue onto your bottle and carefully place the tissue paper on top, gently smoothing with the brush. It you want a very smooth surface I would recommend working with fairly small pieces, as tissue paper is difficult to work with because it's so thin. Set aside to dry and apply an additional coat of modpodge as a protective layer.

And by the way, if you don't feel like going through the trouble of painting the bottles, you can of course decoupage the tissue paper onto clear bottles for results that will look our tissue paper decoupage on glass jars. And if you're looking for something just a bit more sophisticated, check out my black and white wine bottle vases. That should be enough to get you rolling, right?

Wine Bottle Vases Embellished

Remember those wine and liquor and olive oil bottles that I spray painted white for the family wedding festivities and shared with you here? Well, there are so many white bottles hanging around our home now that I just had to start using them as canvases for a little creativity. After all, white bottles are nice, but sometimes something just a bit more colorful might be even better, don't you think? Take a look at these wine bottle vases embellished with a few findings from my stash: ric rack, zippers and ribbon! 

Now these bottles are ready for a fun party of sorts or to add a little cheer to your home just because! And if you happen to have some pom pom flowers hanging around, well they work perfectly with this whimsical look. And since you may be wondering about the ric rack rosette/flower, well it was a bit improvised and I ended up with way too much hot glue everywhere! The best technique is to start with a round piece of felt in the same color as your ric rack, and then starting at the middle wrap the ric rack around to form a flower. If you have a tiny glue gun that is surely preferable, or you may want to try using fabric glue. The pink pieces under the flower are zipper halves! Enjoy and stay tuned for some more fun bottle embellishments!

Paper Accordion Rosette Flowers

Paper accordion rosettes, and paper accordion flowers are all the rage in DIY wedding and party decor, and for good reason! They're so simple to make and look amazing in groups. I've shared these accordion flowers with you before, as a fun accordion medallion bouquet centerpiece, and as festive  Succah decorations, and as elegant golden stars, but never quite like this, and my bare Moroccan frames look better than ever as the perfect backdrop. These were made as DIY sheva brachas (festive meals the week following a Jewish wedding) decorations, and now they'll occupy this little corner in our home until further notice!

To make some yourself, follow my instructions here, and do take note that this time I actually used hot glue instead of a stapler, for joining both the center and the sides, and of course I used very large sheets of paper to achieve this dramatic size. While the pink rosette flowers were made by cutting petal shapes at the ends before assembling, the blue rosettes were made with paper that was just a bit too small, so I cut notches in every other fold after the rosettes were assembled. Enjoy!

Paper Boat Party Decorations

Paper boats make great decorations! And they're really so sweet that they'd be great on any table, whether it be a special occasion or not. I made these boats for a birthday celebration that I'll share with you soon, and I'm looking forward to making some more sometime for a summer-time celebration.

How To: Fold paper boats according to the tutorial here. Insert a wooden skewer through the point of the boat, and use that as your mast to attach two sails. One sail is folded around the skewer, while the second is attached onto the mast at the top and bottom. Add a little flag and you're done. Cut the skewer if your boats will be placed on a table, or leave it full length if that suits your needs. Have fun, and why not try a few out in the pool?