creative jewish mom

Morning Glory Vine In Bloom In My Container Garden!

I just love morning glory and of course the more flowers in one's container garden, the better! A year and a half ago I was in the Ukraine and picked up a bunch of seeds for as I recall something like 7 cents a package, and just before Passover this year I quickly planted a bunch of seeds in containers that had empty space at their bases. (Next time I'll soak the seeds and then start them indoors earlier.) Surprise, the only seeds that produced plants were the morning glory seeds, and it is a good thing as my built in planter now holding just two rose bushes was looking very very empty. As you may have seen I built some rustic trellises from sticks for the morning glory to climb on, and now yippee I have tons of blooms to enjoy every morning! Yes it did take 3 months to get to this point, but at least we'll be able to enjoy them for at least another 3 to 4 months. I am not sure whether the morning glory vine will succumb to the winter weather, or not, and next year I'll get an earlier start. It took a good seven weeks to get tiny plants from my seeds, so need to start in February! Gardenng, whether in containers, or in soil is such a joy so give it a try!

Process Art Collage For The Three Weeks

Process art is all about the making of the art as either therapy or a way of loosening up, or both. The end result is not what counts, but rather the process. I do want to write about this a bit more, but my daughter is waiting for me to help her with her photography homework, so lets just say that this bits and pieces collage is a great project to do today, on the 17th of Tammuz, while you think abou the importance of the day, especially on a personal level. Do it with your kids and have a conversation, or do it with yourself (as I did) and use it an an opportunity to work through anything that has been bothering you, it works! And best of all, we will actually be using this collage for another project, so don't toss it, just stay tuned for an update early next week. While you are doing this collage you may want to keep Jerusalem, or the destruction of Jerusalem in mind. I had the gates of Jerusalem as well as the destruction in mind, together with some little things from my life currently. Ah yes, and no excuses friends, this uses all kinds of stuff you can dig out of your purse or pick up off the floor of your studio! Okay, lets make a collage!

Remembering Jerusalem: Family Crafts For The Three Weeks

The 17th of Tammuz, the minor fast day which marks the beginning of the period of mourning for Jerusalem that is referred to as "The Three Weeks" is on Thursday, so lets add some meaning to this important time with some creative crafts! For those of us who live in Israel, and for whom the idea of the destruction of our Holy Temple in Jerusalem is easier to grasp, the crafts can be a great way to delve deeper into all the issues that surround this mourning period. This year with all the craziness in the world working through emotions with art and craft is a valuable exercise for everyone! For those living outside of Israel, I'd say filling the house with crafts for the three weeks is crucial to stress its importance.......so let's get crafting. Below you'll find more than enough links to keep you busy for at least three weeks!

A Peak In My Sketchbook: How To Draw Doodle Clouds

A sketchbook is a great place to explore all kinds of things, and when I came across some cloud doodles that I wanted to try out myself I realized that this drawing exercise would also help me with my paintings of clouds (which I need to get back to, sigh) which I'm still struggling with just a bit. Of course doodling clouds is so much easier than painting them, so give it a try and fill some pages with doodled or sketched clouds, just looking at them is relaxing! And if you don't have a sketchbook, go ahead and draw on a piece of paper, the main thing is to draw, got it? For a closer look and a brief explanation of these drawings, keep on reading my friends....

A Peek In My Sketchbook: Jungle Botanical Doodles

This summer is all about sketching and doodling and filling my sketchbook with all kinds of botanicals and lettering and florals, mostly done with a fine point black marker! I'll admit it has become my #1 creative activity at the moment, though I think it is great preparation for painting as when one draws something over and over, those shapes are in one's mind, meaning that painting something similar subject wise will hopefully be that much easier. And since I now know how to fix my sketchbook mistakes, I'm not afraid to draw simple doodles and sketches in pen, which has been so very liberating. I can't quite explain it, but there is something oh so satisfying and relaxing about filling page after page with little botanical sketches which all fit together some how! I drew this set of drawings while referring to a lovely book (I have the kindle version) called The Creature Garden: An Illustrator's Guide To Beautiful Beasts And Fictional Fauna, though it is not a drawing book rather a painting with gouche book. Okay, lets take a closer look!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! Wow, July is here and yet we are still riding the never ending vacation wave, (while most schools opened up, it just so happens that both my daughter's school and my son's school did not) so the time warp continues. Two of my teens are in the nerve wracking process of applying to new schools for next year, schools that will likely take them to Jerusalem, a 3.5 hour bus ride away (waaah) though a close friend of mine just moved there and has a guest bedroom, so I think we will be making the trek to see our kids once a month or so, which means more adventures and inspiration. Maybe even a street sketching practice? My sketchbook practice has been amazing, and even a bit addictive, I'll admit, but hey I know it is leading me somewhere, so I am going along for the ride, and in the meantime, enjoying the journey.

Speaking of journey, the Jewish people have been on a journey for thousands of years, and we continue to acknowledge/mourn and celebrate important events in our history that occurred long ago. This coming Wednesday night is the 17th of Tammuz, a minor fast day and the beginning of a 3 week mourning period for the Holy Temple's destruction that culminates on the major fast day of T'isha B'Av, when the Temple was destroyed. So, I have included crafts for this period in the carousel at the top of my blog, and now realize that with all the simple drawing I've been doing it is time to draw Jerusalem! Making your art practice relevant to your life takes it one step further, so give that some thought and enjoy the features from last week's party:

A Peek In My Sketchbook: Adding Color With Colored Pencils

Yes, dear readers, the sketchbook adventures continue, and I have another tip to share with you when it comes to successful sketchbook entries. Okay, I didn't really mean that, because "succesful" isn't what the sketchbook journey is about, meaning it is not the end result that matters but how you got there! That said by someone who previously posted about how to fix you sketchbook mistakes, so I can't say I'm there 100% but working on it, day after day after day! Drawing beautiful simple botanicals and doodles and lettering, mostly black pen on white paper, is oh so satisfying, yet sometimes the results call for some color, so why not give good old fashioned colored pencils a try? For journals with thinner paper like mine, wherein markers leak through to the other side (yes, $5 Walmart journal) colored pencils can be a great option. I could only put my finger on a basic set of colors, but certainly there is a whole wide world of colored pencil colors and one can blend them, so enjoy and get sketching! I have actually completed the sketchbook I started on May 18th, well it was actually half a sketchbook, and am moving on to another much larger one, which is a great switch up! Turns out I have a lot of old sketchbooks that I bought once to keep track of my ideas, and most of them are empty, and calling out to be filled so stay tuned!

Quick Recycled Cardboard Envelope For Your Handmade Card

After I whipped up my handmade new baby card, using some of the simple botanical sketches I've been practicing in my sketchbook, I realized that I really needed an envelope, especially since I didn't have a gift that was the right size to go along with the card....hmmm. A quick search in my studio, and no envelopes to be found (though while I'm typing this I now remember where I may have put some during Passover cleaning) so I realized that I simply needed to create my own envelope that could also serve as protection for the sweet card during its travels to the recipients. So, introducing my 5 minute cardboard envelope, made as you may be able to tell, from a Fed Ex cardboard envelope! Of course cereal box cardboard is also the perfect weight for making cardboard envelopes, so hopefully you can find something, or just drop by my house and I'll throw a cereal box out the door at you......Okay, lets get started, come on, its so simple and no more worrying about not having an envelope, just make one!

How To Draw A Botanical Border For A New Baby Card

A new baby means a new baby card, and all that sketching or rather doodling in my sketchbook means it is time to put that practice to work in the form of a handmade card! And, why not do the artwork on a separate piece of paper, in this case notebook paper, and simply glue that on to the card? No pressure and great results, gotta love it! And while I don't really favor the look of markers these days, I love how this simple card turned out, and the recipients didn't even realize at first that it was hand made! So dear friends, learn how to make some simple flower and leaf doodles, practice a bit of simple lettering, and you are good to go, nothing fancy needed, just some sweet sentiments from the heart, made by you! Okay, lets find out how to make this card exactly, shall we?

Summer Camp Crafts: Havdalah Candle Craft From Old Candles

Remember the story about the huge bag of unsightly old candles that accidentally ended up at our house, and how I decided to make upcycled candles? Well dear readers here is confirmation that indeed there are no accidents, as that bag of candles that was destined for the garbage (in any one else's house, and almost ours as well!) became festive striped havdalah candles. (We use the havdalah candle on Saturday night when Shabbat is over to usher in the new week, and it needs to have two or more wicks.) I almost can't believe it myself, and the gorgeous array of candles that we created have been decorating the top of our piano for the last week or so, just waiting for their moment in the spotlight. I'll admit, I did do several versions of this craft, some more complicated than others, and for the time being I'm sharing the most simple version as it is a perfect summer camp craft to do right now, preferably outdoors! So gather the supplies (if you don't have any old candles hanging around, maybe do a candle drive in the neighborhood or among friends and family, I'm sure there are folks out there who have some hiding in the cabinet waiting for their turn in the spotlght!) Okay, lets get crafting!