creative jewish mom

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!

 

 

DIY Drink Charms For Summer Entertaining

These festive DIY drink or wine charms are an example of one of the those projects that are so simple and yet add so much. And they are practical I might add, especially if you're entertaining informally where guests might be prone to walk around with wine glasses, or any glass that has either a handle or a thin stem. I was inspired to make my own version of this original project, which I found on Craft Schooling Sunday this week, posted by the Italian site, Alessia, scrap and craft.

And what are they made from you ask-well my crafty friends the answer is craft foam! So, if you don't have some on hand, pick some up and make some festive drink charms for your next get together or even just for yourself to add a bit of simple color and design to your life!

For complete instructions continue reading below:

Giant Paper Flower Bouquet Centerpiece

Giant paper flower bouquets are perfect for every occasion and so simple to make! I gave you a sneek peek of these giant paper flowers the other day here, and now I'm back to give you a few more important details to help you make a gorgeous paper flower centerpiece yourself. And take my advice, don't just add this one to your list of "want to makes", make them now!

You'll Need:

• Large card stock weight paper, or really anything would work, even butcher paper or paper bags from the grocery store
• Regular card stock paper in contrasting colors for the centers, and green for the leaves at the base
• wooden dowels
• hot glue gun
• green paint or green crepe paper to cover dowel

How To:

• Draw templates on recycled cardboard according to the dimensions in the photo above. Cut out templates
• Trace templates onto paper, I used five or six petals for outside of flower and three smaller ones for inside of flower. Accordian fold each petal to make ridges in the petals.
• Cut slits in petals as indicated on template and glue one side of the slitted area on top of the other to form a little cup like area at the bottom of the petal. (see photos of great tutorial here)
• Arrange petals to look like a flower and glue together. 
• Make inside of flower (optional) in the same manner
• Center of flower is made from two circles. Cut slits around perimeter of circle and curl up the strips around the inner circle which is prepared in the same way and preferable made from a darker color

• Cut long leaves from green paper, you'll need these to help adhere flower to the dowel.
• Glue flower to dowel and hold in place until cool. Glue leaves to the dowel and to the flower to help provide necessary extra support, unless you have a better idea? 
• And yes, ideally your dowels should be painted green, or wrapped in green crepe paper!

Enjoy this one and can't wait to see your version! And by the way, since I always try to give credit where credit is due, I was inspired to make these flowers by the post here, though I have a feeling that the original version of this project is really the post on Martha here, conceived by an amazing paper flower artist by the name of Eloise Corr Danch. Thanks Eloise for your brilliance!

Giant Paper Flowers Sneak Peek

I've been wanting to try my hand at making some giant paper flowers, ever since I saw the gorgeous giant paper poppies, here. Fortunately for me, we are in the midst of preparing for a family wedding, and a chance to satisfy some of my crafting desires! I thought I'd share a little sneak peek at some of the very large paper flowers I've been working on, and my eight year old was gracious enough to put on her flower girl dress to give the photos just a bit of wedding flavor. I should add, my flowers are just a bit different from the ones that inspired me, and I hope to provide a tutorial for you in the next few days, or at the very least a photo of the templates I used with some size guides. 

In the mean time, collect your supplies, namely very large sheets of paper, some wooden dowels and some green paper for stem details. To make two large flowers and two smaller flowers I used four sheets of Canson art paper— you know the size that has to be rolled up to take home.....or maybe like me you have some paper hanging out waiting for the perfect project? If so, take my word for it, this is the perfect project!

I've just posted a tutorial for this project, take a look here.

I'm sharing this project over at Carolyn's Homework with her new linky party here.

Decorating Challah For Special Occasions

Want to add an extra special touch to your next festive meal? How about decorating your challahs, or challah rolls with cookie cutter shapes? It's really so much fun (and something the kids would love to help with) and your guests will certainly be surprised as this isn't something one often sees (is it?) I snuck in a little extra time to decorate these challahs for Shavuous, and thought I'd share the idea with you, since you can certainly use it anytime.

And as you may know, the challahs that we eat at our shabbat and holiday tables are in fact the most important part of the meal, so spending a little extra time to bake them yourself (here's my favorite recipe) and even decorate them is truly worthwhile!  Your creative touch will make your guests and family feel truly special, and I figure if I'm gonna be in the kitchen why not use my creativity there too? 

 

For these challah decorations I tried to roll out the dough as thin as possible, and I used 3 different flower shaped cookie cutters, and a heart shaped cookie cutter for some of the leaves. I cut the heart shape in half to make a leaf, and added the veins with a knife. I made the little dots with a skewer, and added some little balls here and there. While I made these with the same dough as the challah, it just occurred to me that if one wants to do this with really professional results, it would pay to make a small amount of dough without any yeast, such that the designs will rise less and retain their details more. (When I try this I'll let you know if my reasoning is sound!)  Enjoy!

 

Another Look At Pipe Cleaner Flowers

In my last post I labeled these simple pipe cleaner flowers (made with a crafting pipe cleaner called "chenille sticks with bumps") as being a project for kids, but now that I've placed my sweet bouquet in this little quirky shoe vase, well I think they're a great summer centerpiece and fun for any age. Love their simplicity and the fact that these pipe cleaner flowers look like doodles! And if you don't have a boot shaped vase, well a teapot would look great too! In fact how about a bunch of teapots?

And as you can see, they work really well with a pom pom bouquet, which by the way is a great thing to have on hand to add a festive feeling to your home when the need arises, (like right now, as the holiday of Shavuos is tonight!) I could imagine bouquets like these looking great at an outdoor summer birthday party or even as casual decor to welcome guests in your guest room. 

Wishing you all a fabulous and joyful holiday of Shavuos! When by the way, the Torah will be given for the 3,324th time! Here in Israel (as opposed to everywhere else, where the holiday is two days) the holiday is just one day, which means less cheesecake for us but one less day away from my lovely readers. All the very best!

 This post was linked to Donna's party over at funky junk interiors

Super Simple Pipe Cleaner Flower Bouquet For Kids

Pipe cleaner flower bouquets are sweet and simple enough for the kids to make and a perfect last minute project just before Shavuos! I have to spill the beans on this one though, these pipe cleaner flowers were not made with ordinary pipe cleaners but rather with something called "chenille sticks with bumps", which are long pipe cleaners with bulges. The bulged section is twisted to become one petal and one simply twists petals down the length of the pipe cleaner to form the flower. And while I used half of a chenille stick as the stem, I'd say go with ordinary green pipe cleaners for that. And of course these little flowers would look sweet with a button glued to the center and would be great napkin rings or even hair accessories for any summer party. 

Paper Mache Vases From Recycled Plastic Bottles

Since we're on the theme of paper mache, I thought I'd show you a  simple paper mache vase project that's perfect for summer crafting, as well as Shavuos! And it's a great way to use all those cute tiny bottles from medicine, yogurt, vanilla etc. And once you've finished your paper mache vases, you can fill them with tiny summer flowers for a super sweet seasonal display.

You'll Need:

• recycled plastic bottles from food or medicine
• newspaper for paper mache
• metallic gold paint
• images from napkins or paper for decoupaged details
• beads or ribbon to cover the bottle neck

How To:Wash and dry bottles. Cover bottles with several layers of paper mache and set aside to dry. Paint with metallic gold paint and set aside to dry. Apply small designs with decoupage.

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!