creative jewish mom

Golden Leaf Garlands For Tu B'Shevat

Golden leaves.....leaves from grape vines, olive trees, pomegranate trees and fig trees......are the perfect subject for making elegant garlands for Tu B'Shevat! 

I actually used these small garlands to wrap around hurricane candle vases for a party last week, and now I'll enjoy them hung just about anywhere thanks to washi tape!

 You'll Need:

• gold cardboard, or gold contact paper affixed to cardboard
• leaf shapes to trace
• crochet string or yarn
• a tool for scoring, I used the end of a small metal crochet hook

How To: Find some photos of these leaves courtesy of google, print them out, make a template from a cereal box, and trace your leaf outline onto golden cardboard.  Cut out, and score leaf vein lines in your cardboard with a dull took or some kind....a ball point pen that's out of ink, etc. and assemble! I couldn't find my hole punch, so I made holes with a large needle.

Also, if you're so inclined, you can crochet your leaves together as I did using a tiny crochet hook, and one strand of metallic gold and one strand of creme crochet string. The crocheted chord adds a little decorative touch that makes the garlands look truly elegant!

And after you've enjoyed them for Tu B'Shevat, pack them away carefully to use as Succah decorations and applaud yourself for getting a head start on your Succah decorations! 

Saying Goodbye To The Succah

Here's a little glimpse of what our Succah looked like this year.....something like Moroccan Casbah meets the Chinese circus in Mexico. Fun and colorful and put together at the last minute on account of two weeks in Europe prior to the holiday, (about which I'm certainly not complaining!) So while I did spend hours and hours adhering contact paper shapes to the tile walls to create a colorful wallpaper pattern of sorts, none of the other decorations were hand made by me, as in past years, and fortunately the results were equally festive and welcoming. Phew, I guess I can go traveling again next year?

Goodbye colorful succah, it was great dwelling in you for the past week! We love the holiday of Succos so much, but it's time to say good bye. Simchat Torah starts tonight, which means lots of serious festivities and in my case a huge crowd to host (part way through all the dancing on Sunday night) for some refreshments before everyone faints from hunger and thirst......so gotta run, we've been dwelling in the Succah but now it's time to come back home, and boy is there lots of work there waiting for me! Oh, and crafting? Did anyone mention crafting? 

Wishing you all a joyful Simchas Torah and Shemini Atzeret! 

4:30 am Notes On Last Minute Succah Decorating!

Last year's succah, a subtle combination of pinks and golds......

If on account of the 90% Lindt chocolate that I ate about an hour ago, I still have energy at 4:30 to write this post, then it's a great discovery and much healthier than coffee! Well dear readers, tomorrow at around 5pm we will usher in the wonderful holiday of Succot, and so now is the time to finish decorating our succahs, especially for those of us who still have cooking to do tomorrow!

So some last minute advice for those of you whose succahs still need a little bit of color: strips of inexpensive satin fabric do wonders for blank walls, and if you buy the cheapest fabric you can rip it vertically as well as horizontally, which is what I did!  Paper chinese lanterns and round lamp shades in all sizes are great touches, as are anything you might find in a Pier 1 type import store!

This year my succah is well, lets just say on the very bright side, as opposed to the elegant gold succah of year's past, and I think my kids will certainly enjoy it, though everyone else may need to don sunglasses. Not really, just it's a major change and I'm still a little bit in shock myself!

And my last tip before the holiday is cupcake liners! Yes indeed, take a big needle and some thread and string the cupcake liners for vertical or horizontal garlands. Okay I didn't do that exactly, I actually turned the super cute cupcake liners inside out and pinned them to my strips of satin fabric polka dot style along the bottom portion of the fabric, 10 cupcake liners per strip of fabric. If you want to be the second person in the whole world to do this in your succah go ahead, I think it's kind of cute, and certainly a little different!

That's all for now, wishing you all a wonderful Succos, and while I won't be posting any crafting ideas during the holiday, you can look forward to lots and lots and lots of photos of my recent European adventure! All the best!

Plastic Papel Piccado And Other Rain Proof Succah Decor Ideas

Here in Israel we do occasionally have rain during Succos, but not enough to really influence how we decorate our succah. This morning I was speaking with an old friend in Montreal, who does have to worry about rain during succos, so I thought I'd do a little post with some ideas for decorating a succah that won't fall apart if in fact it does rain.

I have some plastic paper piccado, the Mexican tissue paper decorations that are gorgeous in plastic too. You may not have time to locate some this year, but look for them in import stores, Mexican stores and stores that sell colorful kitsch. This won't be too helpful for most of you, but I did see them at Kitchen Kitsch in Amsterdam, if you're ever there, and of course you can certainly purchase some in Mexico, which is where my husband bought this one!

As far as other ideas for rain-proof decor, here's a little list:

• Think about using oil cloth, or thick patterned plastic table cloth material to make "paper" chains, or even cut out shapes of any kind and make fun garlands. Oil cloth is great for those who sew too, you can make fun bunting banners and all kinds of wall hangings!
• Plastic bottle flowers are perfect, and can be used in so many ways.
• Make lanterns out of plastic bottles by cutting off the top and bottom and decorate with a fringe of strips of torn fabric.
• Use embroidery hoops and strips of fabric to make fun wind catchers, or tiered lanterns of sorts.
• Come to think of it, how about hanging plastic beads from metal rings, or making garlands from wooden or plastic beads, that will certainly hold up in the rain!
• Or how about making some fun decorations using metal lamp shade frames, there's so many ways to go with that idea!
• And of course you could crochet some flowers from plastic cord or plastic bag yarn if you're so inclined. 

So my friends, the chance of rain is really no excuse for a bare succah, go for it!

A Giant Paper Chain For The Succah!

Paper chains are traditional succah decor around here, and my kids love making them. Infact they surprised me with this one last night after I came home from running some errands, and I just love that it's big and chunky as opposed to some of the more delicate chains they've made in the past.

Now, I have to confess, in previous years my elegant gold toned Succah really couldn't have sported such colorful chains, so fortunately in the past we have actually had two succahs, one for sleeping and one for eating, so the sleeping succah contained all the kid's artwork, while the eating succah was my turf. This year however we're having fewer guests and so we really only need one succah, and fortunately I had already decided that the elegant gold toned Succah has run it's course and it's time for some color, so I will find a way to hang this chain center stage!

Have a wonderful time decorating your succah, it's the perfect opportunity to share your creativity with family and friends. Plus we get to sit in the succah for seven (eight outside of Israel) lovely days and enjoy our efforts! Okay, gotta run!

 

Decoupaged Napkin Plaques Kids Can Make (For the Succah!)

 These decoupage napkin plaques were made by one of my older sons quite a few years ago, though I thought I'd share them with you as this is an example of the kind of craft that kids of all ages can do with just a little bit of instruction! My son had a great time choosing napkins that would represent some of the fruits and grains that we honor in the Succah (grapes, olives, dates, figs, pomegranites, wheat and barley), and as I remember, sat for hours assembling his works of art by first decoupaging the napkins to the mdf crafting plaques and then decorating with sequins and little plastic mosaic tiles. 

This could be a great project to set up for the kids and in no time you'll have lots of great art for your Succah!

Decoupage And Sequin Ornaments (For The Succah!)

It's time to get crafting for Succot dear readers, so here's a really fun way to make some beautiful ornaments for your Succah or even to add a little festive touch to your fall table. This is a fun project for all ages, and while the kid's versions won't look like these, they will be sweet and child like, which is even better sometimes!

Hang them from fishline, singly with some beads knotted on the string, or hang a few sizes on the same string for something that one might hang in a window or on a wall.

You'll Need:

• styrofoam balls
• patterned napkins
• mod podge or any decoupage medium
• sequins and sequin pins
• a very long needle (for making a hole through the ball for hanging)

How To:

Decoupage napkins onto foam ball following the instructions here. I usually poke a wooder skewer into the ball so that I can then poke the ball into a piece of styrofoam as a stand for drying. After ball is dry apply patterns using plastic sequin pins and sequins, or with straight pins and sequins if sequin pins are not available.

Display in a bowl, or hang with fishing line or the string or wire of your choice. Gorgeous!

Moroccan Style Candle Vase Centerpiece

I happen to think that Moroccan style looks great just about any time, so when I had to whip up some centerpieces for a neighbor's bar mitzvah I was very happy to have some golden coins trim on hand to dress up these glass vases! 

And when we added candlelight by way of wicks floating in olive oil, the effect was amazing. Though I do have to warn you, I used 5 wicks and the heat was so strong that it melted some of the trim on some of the vases! I was getting a little worried, so I drowned two of the wicks in each vase. Hmmmmm.

You'll Need:

• cylindrical glass vase
• two colors of disposable table runner material, sold in rolls in my town for 20 shekels for 5 meters
• golden trim, preferable with gold coins for maximum effect
• hot glue and/or double sided tape

How To:

Cut silver table runner fabric such that you can wrap it around the vase with about 1 inch overlap. With hot glue or double stick tape, secure the fabric where the beginning and end overlap. Cut gold fabric in length to wrap around the vase. I folded the told fabric in two vertically so that the color will be more intense. Before folding in half I placed a strip of double stick tape at the bottom and sides to secure the fabric once folded. Wrap gold fabric around vase and secure. Cut trim in length to go around vase and secure with hot glue. 

The safest thing to do may be to place one candle in the center, or fill the vase with water and use either floating candles or wicks with olive oil. Enjoy! These candle jars would look great any time this holiday season!

Soda Bottle Apple Revisited- Reader's versions!

Now is apple season, and around here apples are not just about back to school and Fall, they're also about Rosh HaShana, so apple themed crafts are perfect right about now! With Rosh HaShana just ten or so days away, my soda bottle apple gift box is a perfect project, and I was so very happy to see two great versions of it on the web, so I just had to share them with you!

The teacher appreciation gift version from bethapalooza is perfect, and I love the fact that she changed some of the details, for the better even! Joyful Jewish took my idea and used it not as a gift box but as a hanging decoration, which could be perfect for Rosh HaShana and then useful in the Succah!

For complete instructions, please refer to my original post, the soda bottle apple gift box. Enjoy, more crafts for Rosh HaShana coming soon!

 

Fun Fabric As Inspiration For This Year's Succah

Succot is around the corner, and I was thinking about doing something new this year regarding our Succah decor. For the past five or so years we've enjoyed a largely gold Moroccan style look, which has been great, but I think I'm ready for some more color! So when I spotted this fabric in the fabric district in Tel Aviv I just couldn't resist. And if I don't end up using it in the Succah it would certainly look great in my daughter's room.

So I was thinking that this fabric would make a great tablecloth, and then I'd work from there. I'll buy little bottles of paint and cotton yarn in the colors you see in the fabric, and get to work painting styrofoam fruit and wrapping sticks with yarn. Of course I'll also need lots of inexpensive satin fabric in brights to hang around the succah, though of course refreshing white could look great too. 

Using fabric like this as a starting point for any room design sure makes the job so much simpler. Paint vintage furniture in pastel colors, make pom pom mobiles, and use lots of solid color and stripes in the colors represented in your fabric. There are just so many possibilites, right? I hope to try some of them out this year in our Succah, I'll let you know!