creative jewish mom

Trifle Bowl Candle Centerpiece

If you happen to have a glass footed trifle bowl, you can make an elegant centerpiece with just a few simple supplies! I was recently in New York for my nephew's Bar Mitzvah, and while I had offered to bring a suitcase full of paper flowers all ready to go, my sister in law figured we'd just figure it out when I got there. And that we did! As you can see, we used this trifle bowl centerpiece on the dessert buffet, but it would look great just about anywhere.

You'll Need:

• a glass trifle bowl
• wide ribbon, preferably all ready to go with little flowers 
• some glass crystals
• a wide candle
• a hot glue gun

How To:

Wrap a piece of ribbon around the trifle bowl and secure with hot glue. In my case the flowers on the ribbon were a bit sparse, so I cut off the flowers from some additional ribbon and stuck them on with hot glue. Add some glass or plastic beads or crystals to the bowl, place your candle in the middle and there you have it! A super simple yet elegant centerpiece in minutes, just my speed.

Orange Rind Candle Centerpiece For Tu B'Shevat

Ever heard of candles made from orange rinds? Or candles made from clementine rinds? Great idea right, especially now that Tu B'Shevat (Feb. 8th) is right around the corner! Basically, according to the original source, one carefully removes the fruit, leaving the two halves intact, and when you are careful not to sever the stem that's connected to the top inside of the peel, you can actually use this as a wick once olive oil is poured into the rind.

Well my friends, this little idea sounds great, but just didn't work for me, since maybe the stem was too moist or not soaked enough in oil. (Another post suggested leaving the half rind and stem to dry overnight, but who has time for that?) So I got just a little creative with this one and got out the round floating wicks which work perfectly here! Fill your empty half-citrus shell with olive oil, add a floating wick, light it and voila!

Now, while my orange and lemon and clementine rinds look great with little wicks floating in them, I just couldn't stop until I had also tried making a beautifully carved cover with the top half of the rind. (I kind of felt like I was making up for all those pumpkins I never carve?)

And I must say, the carved tops look gorgeous, but once again I came upon another problem, the top started to burn. Now I did read that one should make sure to make the hole in the top big enough so it doesn't burn, but I had the same burning problem even when the hole was huge. So, if you have some extra time, go ahead and carve a top or two, and experiment, or better yet, enjoy my photos and just skip it all together?

The assortment of citrus halves do look lovely just as they are. Don't you think? And while my family won't be surprised when I actually do this on Tu B'Shevat, yours certainly can be! 

For complete instructions, see the original post on this subject on Apartment Therapy and entitled How To Make A Clementine Candle. You can also choose to watch their How To Make A Clementine Candle Video, which I'd advise if you want to work through all the kinks that I encountered. And as far as working with lemons and oranges I removed the fruit by cutting around the perimeter as one would when eating a grapefruit. Have fun with this one!

Note: In case you are not familiar with the floating wicks that you see in my photos, they are widely available in any Judaica store world wide, and possibly in the Jewish foods sections of major super markets with a Jewish clientele. (They are generally used for lighting Shabbat and Chanukah candles using olive oil, and come in little boxes slightly bigger than matchboxes.) Or you can always order them online, even through Amazon! Just google "round floating wicks" and you'll find lots of sources. Oh, and in my last photo you can see the "large" size and the "regular" size, which refers to the size of the little round cork floater. Okay enough about floating wicks, you'll love them!

Price Tag Sticker Candle Jars

Aren't these neon price tag sticker candle jars fun? When I bought some rolls of these stickers I thought I was buying them for my kids. Of course my kids don't have any idea that neon is "back" or that their mom really bought the stickers to satisfy that personal desire of hers for just a touch of neon! 

Making patterns with these little stickers is just too much fun, so give it a try!

If you'd like to keep these jars for future use, I'd recommend a coat of mod podge or any decoupage medium over the stickers.....mind you, the mod podge will make your jars cloudy, on the other hand your work will last. There's no guarantee as to how well the stickers will stick to the glass over time, depending on how sticky they are! Have fun!

And thanks to Design Sponge for featuring my price tag sticker DIY here.

And don't forget to check out  my other price tag sticker posts: price tag sticker gift wrap and price tag sticker snowflakes.

 

Moroccan Style Table For The Holidays!

You can set a festive Moroccan-style table with out actually owning anything made in Morocco! It's all about gold, and fresh fragrant herbs, and hot tea and lots of little dishes of salads, and platters of couscous. Got it? Oh and of course, lanterns and candle light, freshly roasted nuts and an assortment of dried fruit. I set this little scene for a photo shoot for a Moroccan recipe that I'll share with you next week, and I thought you might enjoy it.

Here's the details:

• Tablecloth:  A piece of fabric from Amy Butler
• Glasses: Fake Moroccan glasses made in Korea, purchased in Israel for 15 shekels (about $4) for six!
• Tea pot: Made in Russia or China, bought off the back of a truck in the Ukraine
• Fresh mint leaves: picked from my container garden
• Lidded dish on left of photo: the only authentic Moroccan piece in this photo, a gift from a friend in Jerusalem
• White honey jar: from the dollar store years ago
• Plastic gold chargers: $1 each from Amazing Savings in Monsey, NY

So you see my friends, a festive table doesn't have to be matchy matchy or formal, a bunch of glasses with tealights, some great fabric, and a tea pot here and there, and you've got yourself a great setting for a festive holiday gathering!

Pom Pom Yarn For Last Minute Decorating

Pom pom yarn is fantastic for crafting! 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 on your last minute holiday decorating, which in reality isn't really so last minute just yet, but you might like to have these ideas on hand to pull out of your hat in another week!

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!

Braids Look Great....Use Them In Your Holiday Crafting!

This isn't a specific project exactly, rather just a little post to give you some crafty inspiration. A few weeks ago when I made a bunch of yarn wrapped vases for a community get together, I actually completed the look by wrapping a braid around each vase. I can't say that my idea was entirely successful or that it really added to the look, but I can say that the braids themselves looked fabulous as is!

Dare I propose to make a bunch of long braids and simply lay them on your table like a table runner? I think it could look fabulous, maybe with some shiny metallic fabrics mixed with other colors? How about wrapping gifts in them or using them as the base for your ornament garlands? Or add a colorful braid to a lampshade or as a tassel rope? They're so simple to make and they look great right now!

I made these with disposable table cloth material, but of course depending on the look you're going for they work well made from rags, twine, rope, you name it! So give braids some thought and see where you might be able to add some to your holiday crafting plans. I'd love to hear what you come up with!

Chanukah Centerpiece: Yarn Wrapped Hurricanes

Here's a really simple idea for your Chanukah table this year, yarn wrapped vases! You can use this idea to make a stunning Chanukah centerpiece, or make a bunch to place individually. I'd go for a bunch together, as they look amazing in a group. And it's just a simple as wrapping some yarn around a glass vase or even a jar.

I first saw this idea last February on Craft Schooling Sunday here, and decided to try it on a much larger scale with these tall hurricane vases, which I decorated for a community gathering last week. I did actually add some orange yarn to the mix, since that went with the table color scheme, but these looked so amazing with just the two shades of blue that I ran home to grab my camera.

How To: Using vases or jars that are totally straight, wrap the yarn around either the top or the bottom and knot, leaving a tail. Turn the jar or vase while holding the yarn, and slowly being wrapping such that the yarn moves up the vase. Once you've reached the top, continue wrapping in a downward motion until you reach the bottom. Tie off with the tail piece from the beginning and trim. Do the same with another color. Picking two colors in the same family, like red and orange, or blue and light blue, gives gorgeous results, that remind me of the swirled colors inside glass marbles.

And for another idea using yarn and candlelight, check out my yarn wrapped can votive holders. Actually the two would look great together! Happy holiday crafting!

Crocheted T-Shirt Yarn Basket For Holiday Giving

Crocheting with t-shirt yarn is so much fun, and lucky for me I happened to have a few balls of t-shirt yarn on hand. I whipped up this basket quite quickly, which qualifies it as a great green gift for those on your list who'd appreciate such a rustic vessel. I think it would be great to give with a batch of homemade muffins, or holding a gift of toiletries, including maybe some gorgeous crocheted wash cloths. 

Just make sure to make a few, because you'll surely want to keep some on hand to enjoy in your home this holiday season. Really, you can never have too many catchalls......and great for guests to hold their little stuff, or how about one for each child to contain all the little things that collect in their pockets? And best of all, this little basket is of course totally washable!

You'll Need:

• t-shirt yarn, how to make t-shirt yarn tutorial here
• large crochet hook, I used a 10mm
• a simple basket pattern, you can follow mine here, though note that because the t-shirt yarn I made was on the thick side, (and because I was winging it...) my first round of crochet consisted of 1 ch2 and 11 dc into a foundation ring of 6 ch.

Notes:

• I crocheted this basket such that the "right side" is actually on the inside. If your basket will be something that will be placed on a shelf and viewed mostly from the outside, so it is probably preferable for the "right side" to be on the outside. Decide what suits you (the "wrong side" is rougher looking) and when you start the rows for the sides, make sure you're crocheting such that you'll get the desired results. I didn't even think of this as I was doing it, but you can!
• When I crocheted a basket using sheets (which are not stretchy) I had to work at getting the bowl shape. In this case, I had honestly intended to make a straight sided basket, but because of the nature of the t-shirt yarn and the hook size, the sides naturally curved in, which is just fine with me, though I can't guarantee that the same thing will happen with you. Let me know! And now, go whip up some of these baskets and bring some green joy to friends and family!

Chanukah Craft: Tissue Paper Cut Outs

I love tissue paper, and the brilliant colors are perfect for Chanukah decorations. Think light....bright, happy.....and my friends, the idea that Chanukah is a blue and silver holiday is a commercial fabrication, so please don't let it hamper your creativity as you prepare for the festivities which are just one month away, yikes!

I actually did this project last year on the last night of Chanukah for a community get together, so I only shared a snipet with you then. Funny thing is, last year I thought the results were a bit too sloppy, this year I'm amazed at how gorgeous the patterns are and I'm loving the imperfect look as a result of not cutting exactly straight strips! 

When the large candles inside each vase were lit, the effect of a room full of these hurricanes was festive and stunning. Of course small versions of this craft would look great too. 

I assembled the panels before wrapping them around each hurricane, and actually I love them just like this!

I chose to use dreidels and candles, but any shapes or even numbers or letters would look great, which means that this craft could conceivably be done just about any time of year......tuck that one under your hat!

 

You'll Need:

• tissue paper
• pinking shears
• glue

How To:

 Cut strips of tissue paper of varying heights, but all the same length. I measures the diameter of the vase/hurricane and cut my strips just a bit longer.

Fold strips accordion style, and cut out shapes on the fold, such that the shape repeats itself across the strip once unfolded.

Layer strips such that contrasting colors appear within the cut out shapes. Adhere with glue. Note: due to the fact that tissue paper is quite thin, my dots of glue were visible. If you'd like to avoid this, brush on glue with a brush, or if you can think of a better way to adhere these strips (I imagine spray adhesive might work, but the stuff is toxic!) please let me know! All the best, and let the Chanukah crafting begin!

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.