creative jewish mom

Washi Tape Matchbox For Chanukah!

How about whipping up some fun washi tape matchboxes this fall, to enjoy this winter, or even as part of your holiday gift giving plans? They're so very simple to make, as you can guess, and oh so sweet!

I haven't seen any washi tape in my little town, but of course saw lots of it on my recent trip to The Netherlands, and so of course I did treat myself to some at long last! Washi tape isn't exactly inexpensive, but it's one of those craft supplies that sure can save the day in a pinch, since you can use it to decorate so many things in just minutes!

You'll Need:

• fireplace matches
• silver contact paper
• washi tape

How To:

Cover the box, except for one striking plate in silver contact paper. Then apply stripes of washi tape to the box, and don't forget to decorate a few matches as well for a little extra surprise! 

DIY Organza Flowers: The Perfect Birthday Party Project!

Last week my sweet daughter turned ten (how did that happen?) and instead of playing party games like we did last year, we decided to do a craft project—organza flowers! Truthfully, it went over quite well, with only one out of the ten girls giving up mid project.....and the rest went home with a nice flower to wear in their hair for Shabbat. Now since this project does involve using a lit tea light, I would only advise doing it with girls at least nine years old, and do make sure that all hair is tied up and out of the way!

In case you're wondering, I did offer some other color choices than the ones you see here, but these girls are not risk takers, so they all went with something well within their comfort zone, fair enough!

We attached black hair bands to the back of each flower with a tiny strip of fabric and hot glue, and my daughter was even wearing hers today. And infact this morning she made a few more, even nicer ones which I'll share with you soon.

To make these flowers, see my DIY organza flower tutorial, and check out my Chair-back Flower Garland post from last year to see how I actually used flowers like these to decorate at last year's birthday party!

Wine Bottle Vases Simplified For Your Fall Table

 

A while back I shared with you some lovely painted wine bottle vases, but guess what my friends? You really don't have to go through all that trouble of painting the bottles, especially for fall when dark wine bottles look just fine as they are! And let me tell you, painting those bottles was a bit tedious, not to mention toxic, so I'm so happy to share with you this super simple project!

I used paint markers in orange and yellow for a rustic fall look, though one could certainly use white or metallic colors for something more sophisticated or dare I say elegant?

You'll Need:

• wine bottles, labels removed, tutorial here
• paint pens
• a little creativity......be careful not to smear the pen as you're working and if you make a mistake you can probably wipe if off immediately, or just put that bottle in the recycling bin and start over!

Flower Girl Slippers

You can take any pair of shoes and transform them into elegant slippers with just the addition of some beautiful trim! My daughter is a flower girl in a upcoming family wedding, and while we were happy with these shoes from Target they were missing that special elegant touch. Trim applied quite simply with a glue gun, and some little bows made with the same trim transport these shoes into another realm altogether. 

This was oh-so-simple and with such great results, I can't wait for the next opportunity to turn some plain jane shoes into the belles of the ball! 

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.

Gorgeous DIY Fabric Flower Table Decor For Every Occasion!

These elegant and artful stacked organza fabric flowers, (made by melting polyester organza or chiffon fabric circles with a flame), and which I posted about with a tutorial here, will make your table look just amazing! I had originally planned to use them as napkin rings, but after I found this coordinating wired floral ribbon in my stash, I decided to simply wrap the ribbon around the salad plate. Our seder table looked so beautiful with this simple addition, which I'll be sure to use again and again! I'm sure these flowers will be used as actual napkin rings at some point, and at the moment I've got them hanging out tied around one of my empty Moroccan frames, where they also happen to look lovely

One note, the fabric I used is a polyester satin organza, though one can and should try using chiffon which is slightly sheer and looks really great using this technique. And I have to say, the fact that my table was adorned with flowers all slightly different, looked much more interesting than if they were all the same, so have fun making a bunch of varieties.....wouldn't these be wonderful for a DIY wedding or sheva brachas? Get together a group, teach them how to make these flowers, and enlist their help. Sounds like a great time to me!

Make Gorgeous Fabric Flower Napkin Rings For Your Spring Table!

Fabric flowers are all the rage with the glue gun set, and understandably so! I've been wanting to make these quite simple layered organza roses for quite some time, and I have to be honest, I started this project for Chanukah! But since I'm feeling the pinch to come up with some Passover appropriate crafts, I realized that this one is perfect, and I'm so happy that I didn't make these back in December, as they really are perfect for spring. While I haven't figured out how to incorporate fabric flowers into my wardrobe, I do think my table will look just lovely wearing these oversized blooms—as napkin rings that is! 

You'll Need:

• polyester organza fabric, shiny on one side matte on the other, and medium weight (10 shekels a yard in Israel)
• a candle
• a glue gun
• some pretty beads, sequins or pearls
• some nice ribbon, i used wired silver mesh ribbon which looks lovely peaking out from behind the napkin

How To:

These flowers are made by cutting concentric circles, about eight or nine in a stack works nicely, and then melting the edges carefully with an open flame, such that the edges curl to make a cup shape. The concentric circles are then stacked and extra pieces can be added for fullness. (Not every piece had to be centered within the stack, some might look better with a layer or two off to the side a bit.) When you are happy with the arrangement, use a glue gun to adhere one layer to the next, adding a pearl or bead at the top to hide the glue spot! Turn flower over and attach a length of ribbon to be used for tying the flower around the napkin. Voila!

You can whip up a bunch of these quite quickly, especially if you cut multiple circles at one time. If you're unsure of how to cut concentric circles, you can make a pattern for yourself on the computer, print it out and then pin the paper circle to the fabric and cut around the circle. A circle template with multiple sized circles would also work well for this. One tutorial that I saw suggested using flower shapes rather than circles (you can see one such shape in the flower on the left hand side) but I found that to be much more difficult than working with circles. Okay, gotta run we've got a family simcha in Jerusalem today, and Pesach is coming! All the sooner to use these flowers on my seder table!

Enhance Your Felt Flowers With Crocheted Edging! (And Dress Up Your Fall Table...)

 

With large flowers being all the rage as fashion accessories, I thought it was time to dress up the fall table too! Can't you imagine a long table with a flower like this at each place setting? I originally set out to make napkin rings, but then I realized that one really needn't bother.....just place the flower on top of your nicely folded napkin! And then if you want to use them for another project (like a wreath or gift toppers, or fashion accessories or just about anything...) after the party is over, so they're all ready to go! Creative re-use is always good in my opinion.

Before I tell you how I made these, I should share with you the inspiration for this project. JD, the crochet blogger over at craftgossip.com, put me up to it! That's right, an outright challenge so to speak, to crochet edging on felt flowers, an idea she didn't have time to play with. Now I of course don't have the time either, but I love a good challenge, and so there I was at 11:30 pm one night crocheting in bed! She thought I should crochet around some of the flowers from my felt bouquet, here, but after trying one rose, I decided that it would really work the best with a flower constructed just a little differently. Here's a closeup for you:

You'll Need:

• felt
• yarn, I used baby weight cotton
• a large needle
• a glue gun

How To:

1. Cut out six five-petaled flowers, and one small circle from felt. Determine the size of the flower by making it roughly the size (when it lies flat) that you'd like your assembled flower to be. It's best to make a template and make identical flowers, but it really doesn't matter too much, as you can see, since I cut these out in bed with no template.
2. Embroider a blanket stitch around the edge of one of the flowers, and then crochet an edging, by first crocheting one round of single crochet, and then the edging stitch of your choice. In this photo I used pico stitch, while in the flower above I used the scallop stitch.
3. Now, with your glue gun fired up, fold each flower in half and in half again, cut off the tip and glue to the outside of your felt circle. Continue in this manner with the remaining four flowers to fill the edge of the circle.
4. For the center of the flower, fold your crocheted edge flower in half, and then roll it horizontally, jelly roll style. I found this gives the best results, but you can certainly try something else! Hot glue your rolled flower into the center, and voila!
5. By the way, though the crocheted edging adds a certain elegance, one can certainly omit that step. I have seen tutorials for this type of flower in two places, this technique was directly inspired by the post over at  Jones Design Company, while one can make a very similar flower with slightly different technique from Shad and Lizzie.

Yes, I know, I didn't show you what the pink flower looks like assembled....honestly it's just a bit on the frilly pink side for my taste, so when I find a use for it I'll certainly share the results!

 

Zipper Flowers At Last!

I can now finally breathe a sigh of relief. Phew. My daughter is on her way to having a drawer full of fashionable hair accessories! What took me so long you ask? Well, life just somehow got in the way of me and the very popular zipper flower. No reasonable explanation really, especially since these flowers are totally up my alley—quick, inexpensive and hopefully great looking!

Now I have to say, not every zipper flower is beautiful in my eyes, as I steer away from chunky and bold, so I'm quite happy with my first attempt here, using very fine plastic zippers that don't shout zipper! Okay, the center of the flowers does shout zipper, but just enough, if you know what I mean!

I did some research and didn't find anything to copy, (since many of the big zipper flowers use 24"-36" long zippers, which mine are not) so I'm happy to say that I came up with these two versions myself.  Aren't you proud mom?

You'll Need:

• plastic fine tooth zippers (like for a skirt zipper) about 30cm (16.5") long
• a chunky plastic zipper, about 40 cm long (20")
• knit headbands or the headband of your choice
• a hot glue gun (I got out my mini one, which was perfect.)

How To:

For Blue 8-Petaled Flower: Made from 8 Separate Petals

1. Cut zipper pull off of zipper to separate zipper into two pieces
2. Cut eight 3" lengths, and glue ends of each piece together to form individual petals
3. Glue petals together to form a flower as seen in photo
4. for center of flower, take a small piece of chunky zipper and wrap it around on itself once, securing with hot glue. fold fabric portion of zipper up, and secure with hot glue so that flower center won't be too high. (not sure if that's clear, if not, let me know!)
5. Glue center to flower and then glue entire flower to headband.
6. Have daughter try on and photograph her for your blog or to send to me!

For Beige 6-Petaled Flower: Made from two 3-petaled pieces

1. Cut zipper pull portion off to separate zipper into two pieces
2. Fold zipper to form the first petal and adhere with glue, continue folding the second petal in a figure eight fashion, but instead of folding the second petal opposite the first, fold it to the left or right of the first petal, such that you can then work a third petal on the other side, creating a triangle. (I know, a bit hard to understand, but play around a bit and you'll either get it or come up with your own version!)
3. Make two identical (well, as similar as possible would be good) 3-petaled pieces, and then glue one on top of the other.
4. Make the center by wrapping a piece of chunky zipper in a coil-like fashion, tightly at first and then loosely, securing with hot glue as you go. Glue center to flower, reducing height of center by folding fabric portion of zipper under a bit.
5. Glue flower to headband. See step #6 above.
6. Consider making these as gifts for all the girls, young and not so young, in your life!