creative jewish mom

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!

Rhinestone Yarn Bracelet Ornaments

Rhinestone bracelets made by simply attaching some rhinestone chain to a metal bangle with yarn or embroidery thread are all the rage, so I thought I'd take the idea one step further and make some fun neon ornaments. I love their modern/crafty look and they're so easy to whip up. Best of all, I wasn't sure what to hang from the center of my chandelier together with my instant pom pom garland, and the combo of these two styles and colors looks perfect! I'll make some more yarn wagon wheel stars to hang alone and voila, a great holiday look was born with minimal effort!

And of course while you're at it, make some rhinestone bracelets to give as gifts, use a present toppers or adorn your wrist this holiday season!

You'll Need:

• rhinestone chain
• simple metal bangles
• yarn or embroidery thread
• jewelry making jump rings
• glue (if necessary)
• rhinestone bracelet tutorial

How To:

To make the lower yarn starburst portion, simply tie the yarn around the bracelet and start wrapping across the bracelet and back to a point next to the beginning, and across the bracelet and back, always going through the middle. If you find that the yarn slips too much, place small dots of glue at each point where the yarn touches the rim of the bracelet. Once you've gone all theway around, tie off. 

Make rhinestone bracelets according to tutorial. 

Make chain with the jump rings, and attach the two elements together. You can of course opt to hang small charms in the center of the rhinestone bracelet, but at the moment I'm loving it empty! Have a wonderful, crafty holiday season!

 For some more great crafting ideas using metal bangles, check out my posts from last year, golden sphere ornaments, and crocheted plain and scalloped bracelets.

DIY Rhinestone Bracelets For Wearing And Crafting!

I don't know whether you caught all the buzz about friendship bracelets this past summer, but I sure did, and have had the supplies on hand to make some. Well not really the same ones that were all over the web, but just a bit similar. I was inspired by this great post, wherein I learned about the existence of rhinestone chain (where have I been?) and thought of the project here. Then sure enough, some other crafters beat me to it and made bracelets just like the one you see here.....you can check out their lovely version here.

In any case, I really didn't make these bracelets to wear as bracelets, this was supposed to be just a starting point for another craft project, but they truly look so great as bracelets that I just had to share them with you as is!

You'll Need:

• thin bangles
• rhinestone chain
• yarn or embroidery thread

How To: You basically just bind the rhinestone chain to the bangle with either yarn or embroidery thread. The embroidery thread looks lovely and delicate, but it's a bit time consuming, so I then thought of using yarn, which is what I'll certainly be using if I need a few more of these for some upcoming projects. Enjoy! These make great little gifts and teens can certainly enjoy making a bunch of these for friends.

Hand Built Ceramic Platter And Cups

I have to say, I really can't believe that this ceramic platter and cups were made by me! For as long as I can remember I've wanted to learn how to make things with clay, and at long last the opportunity arose just down the street, so I jumped at it.  

So my friends, if there's something you've been wanting to learn, do it now! Of course we can't always follow all of our dreams, but when a dream is close enough to grab, go for it! 

And by the way, as you can see, you really don't need to know how to use a wheel to make great usable pieces for your home. These were made by quite simply rolling out a piece of clay into a slab and then working with the slab. The platter was made by using a plastic existing platter as a mold, and the cups were built by wrapping a rectangular piece of slab around onto itself and attaching it to a round bottom piece.

Before the pieces were made, the slab was decorated with the designs using a wooden fabric printing stamp, the kind used in India in hand printed fabric production. 

Now that I see how these cups turned out, I can't wait to make a whole set. More to come! 

Crocheted Rag Rug From Sheets

Crocheting rugs from recycled sheets, comforter covers and pillow cases is simple and the results are great! The rug is heavy weight and can be thrown into the washing machine for cleaning. Plus it's just a great feeling to make a gorgeous rug from rags.....what more can I say? I actually made this rug over a year ago, and put it aside to save for a publishing project that hasn't yet happened, so lucky you I decided to share it!

I used a size 9mm hook, though do a test to see what works for you.....the crocheting should be tight enough so that there aren't holes, (unless you like how it looks) as you can see in the top photo in my post about crocheting with sheets here.

This rug was crocheted from both solid sheets (the center pink and blue) and patterned ones too, and I love the combination! The speckled orange ring just after the pink ring was made from striped sheets, so don't be afraid to use patterns!

And by the way, this rug wasn't made in just a few hours like the smaller crocheted doily here, but you can make it relatively quickly, and if you start now you could even make a few in time for holiday gift giving! And if you're not up for a rug, so how about a round stool or ottoman cover....that you could whip up in a few hours! Have fun and let me know if you crochet something from rags, or if you need any advice!

For info on how to make yarn from sheets, see the bottom of my post here, and stay tuned for a more concise post on the subject, as I've recently discovered another technique that I just need to try out first!

Doodling As Surface Design and Meditation

Instead of doodling on little scraps of paper that usually get thrown into the garbage, how about doodling on some envelopes and saving them for sending out holiday greetings and birthday cards? As you well know, the internet is an amazing source of information, and yesterday, while researching art journaling, which I hope to do with my daughter, I came across a whole community of people who make art based on doodles as well as a school of thought and business called zentangles, which teaches doodling as a form of meditation!

And if that wasn't exciting enough, well there are a ton of little diagrams here, showing how to make all kinds of little doodle drawings......I immediately grabbed some pens and some envelopes as they happened to be on hand, and got started. And I must say, while I don't think I'll be doing anything as specific as the zentangle method, I love the idea of using doodle art as surface decoration!

And I have to tell you, my kids were absolutely fascinated! The little doodle drawing on the blue/green envelope on the upper right is the doodle that we all did in grade school, and I'm just thrilled to have added a few more designs to my repetoire! You can expect to see a whole lot of doodling going on around here in the future, because let me tell you.....it's not only addictive but really relaxing....! 

Here are links for the three doodle drawing in black:

• woven zig zag
• archer
• twisted rope

 Enjoy and let me know where your doodling takes you! 

Chair Back Fabric Flower Garlands Look Gorgeous Any Time

I love chair back garlands, don't you? I was in need of some quick decorations for my daughter's birthday, and I was thrilled to discover that I could make a really pretty garland by simply tying together some of the floral napkin rings that I posted about here. And voila, a beautiful and festive chair back garland was born in just minutes! Of course, if you don't have any flowers on hand, you can certainly make some, and it's so much fun!

Chair back garlands are great any time, for weddings, bat mitzvahs, birthday parties, or how about in the Succah? Maybe you can enlist some teenage kids to whip up some of these for you just in time for the holiday? 

You'll Need:

• organza or satin flowers, tutorial here
• ribbon, preferable patterned to complement the colors of your flowers
• hot glue gun 

How To:

Assemble floral napkin rings, which you can see here, and tie them together to form a garland, or simply glue your flowers to a single length of ribbon. Either way, you really can't go wrong!

 

 

Crocheted Plastic Bag Doily Clock

Yes, I crocheted a doily from plastic grocery bags and then I realized that it made a really cute clock! Yesterday I shared with the you the 5 minute paper plate clock, so while this one does take just a bit more effort it's certainly worth it! Wouldn't these make great holiday gifts? Once you get the hang of crocheting with plastic bags you can whip up a doily like this in under an hour (or so) and attaching the clock movement is a piece of cake!

You'll Need:

• plastic grocery bags which you'll make into yarn, called plarn, instructions here
• a crochet hook, I used a J, but you can go just a bit larger too
• a clock movement— you can buy a quartz movement and other craft supplies at Factory Direct Craft.
• a doily pattern, this one coming soon 

How To:

Make  ball of plarn, I'd say you'll need roughly four or five large bags. Crochet according to the pattern. If you like the look of the cupped petals, which really happened by accident, switch to a smaller hook for the last round and crochet in the front loop of the previous row. 

Insert the shaft of the clock mechanism into the hole, attach the arms and voila, an adorable clock is born!

 

Paper Plate Clock In 5 Minutes

Here is it my friends, the five minute DIY clock using a paper plate! It really can't get much simpler than this, and you could change the plate as often as you like for a little fresh hit of color or design! I also think that a paper plate clock would make a great gift, or fill a whole wall with them! Clock mechanisms are quite inexpensive, you can get a cheap one for around $2 (8 shekels), so this could be a really fun project that you could take in so many directions! Have fun with it!

You'll Need:

• a paper plate, dinner sized
• a clock movement kit

How To:

Find the exact center of the plate, measure if necessary. Make a hole in the center with a metal skewer or a nail. Insert the shaft of the clock mechanism through the hole and attach the hands. You may need to secure the clock mechanism to the back of the plate with hot glue or double stick tape. 

And in case you hadn't noticed, a clock project is very timely today, as tonight we enter the final week before Rosh HaShanah! And this my friends is a very important week, because in this week we have the opportunity to make amends for things that didn't go quite as we would have wished during the whole year. Don't go crazy, just try to do your best in all the areas where you may have slipped a bit. Speaking of time, I gotta run, and really don't have the brain power at the moment to explain in greater extent what I just said above, so if any of you want further clarification, do drop me a line!

 

Wine Cork Stamp Rosh HaShana Cards

Wine cork stamps are super simple to make and a great way to make some quick and sweet Rosh HaShana cards. With the Jewish New Year just around the corner in three weeks, now is the perfect time to make cards so that one can even send them to friends and relatives near and far. The apple is one of the traditional symbols for the Jewish New Year, and the perfect shape for making a wine cork stamp!

You'll Need: a wine cork, a sharp knife, a red stamp pad, a black pen, some card stock.

How To: Using a sharp knife or a craft knife, simply remove from the cork two notches, one for the indentation at the top of the apple and one for the indentation for the bottom of the apple. That's it! Stamp carefully, with a towel under the cardstock to enable a better print, and set aside to dry before adding details. 

And of course you can certainly use your little stamp to make gift tags, napkin rings, treat bags, you name it! And if you'd like to explore some other methods of stamping, you can see my previous posts here: potato printing, craft foam stamps, styrofoam tray printing.