creative jewish mom

Highlights from Last Week's Craft Schooling Sunday Blog Party

I don't usually link to other crafter's work, but now that I'm throwing a party each Sunday, well it's only fair to highlight some of the projects that my visitors have posted. That's all part of the fun! And thanks to everyone who came last week, each and every link was highly appreciated and enjoyed!

First of all, here's one of my all-time favorite recycling craft projects, presented by my friend Tali over at growingupcreative.com. I'm so proud of her for coming up with this amazing idea, and I can't wait to make one myself. I only just realized that she painted hers, (well the kids painted it I believe) though it would look great left natural too, I think!

Secondly, I just loved this shoe box that Anke over at lichi7.blogspot.com covered in wrapping paper hexigons. Really nice, and though she reconstructed the shoe box I believe, you certainly can just paste those pieces on to an existing box. Isn't it just lovely?

I just loved these cute greeting cards from olivegreencards.blogspot.com and was thinking they'd make adorable art for a baby's room as well!

And these next two projects deserve lots of credit for creative solutions. The first is a super comfy reading nook created from a space under a counter meant for a wine fridge, thanks to Kami at nurturingthetenderyears.blogspot.com for linking up this nice project,who wouldn't love a space like this? And the second is from funtocraft.blogspot.com, a really great tutorial on how to make your own pattern for pajama pants from some existing pants. Another project I've been dreaming of!  

I hope you enjoyed these highlights from last week, can't wait to see what this week will bring!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Hi everyone! So glad you stopped by for my second Craft Schooling Sunday blog party! In the future I will hopefully sit back on this day and let you all do the teaching, sharing your amazing ideas from around the world. Today I'm still trying to figure out how to post a button for you to grab!

Here's the rules:

• Add a link to a specific post on your blog, and please post a link on that post back to this party.
• The link on your blog can be a written one saying "I'm linking up at Craft Schooling Sunday" or better yet, drag one of the logos below onto your computer and paste that at the bottom of the post.
• Please write in Capital letters at the beginning of your link your country of residence (USA, CAN, etc.)
• Please try to visit at least 3 other links from the party and a leave comment!
• Have fun and feel free to give suggestions as to how to make this even more interesting!

This First List is for Crafts & DIY Home Decorating:

This Second List is for Delicious Recipes: (no recipes that contain pork, shellfish, or mix milk and meat please, so that everyone can enjoy them!)

Healthy Sesame Tahini Cookies: A Good Treat For Moms Too!

Tonight is Tu B'Shevat the holiday you've been hearing so much about, so I'm a bit busy preparing for that as well as cleaning the blog again for my blog party on Sunday (please come!) I wouldn't want you to visit and find  nothing new, so I thought I 'd post this healthy cookie recipe that I tried a while back, but it must have been pre-blog as I didn't take any photos! In any case the recipe has nuts and raisins in it, so I guess these qualify  as being appropriate for the holiday as well!

Please note, this recipe is for kids (and moms) who have already experienced not-so-sweet baked goods as well as other healthy fare. If your kids are strictly Oreo types, so I'd say maybe better not to waste the ingredients, on the other hand if you're on the path to healthy eating and haven't been giving sweet treats, so these will probably be received quite nicely, if you know what I mean. A little sugar deprivation will help kids appreciate things that are less sweet!

The only other thing I can tell you about these cookies is that I gave some to my neighbor who tries to eat healthy meals (and has been know to make sugar free blueberry pie with a spelt crust) and she gobbled them up!

Sesame Tahini (Techina) Oat Cookies

1 cup sesame seeds
1 cup oat flakes (rolled oats)
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder (non-alum is said to be healthier)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cups raisins
1/2 cup milk, soy milk or water
1/2 cup honey (you could replace this with fruit juice concentrate for even healthier cookies!)
1/2 cup sesame tahini

Mix dry and liquid ingredients in separate bowls; then combine and mix thoroughly. Drop spoonfuls onto a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 375 oven for 10-12 minutes.
Note: I actually made these without the nuts and raisins and they were still good! Enjoy.

A Delicious Green Salad For Tu B'Shevat (Or Any Time!)

My friends over at koshereye.com just sent over this recipe that they wanted me to share with my readers. It sounds so delicious and unlike anything I'd actually post from my own kitchen, that I just couldn't resist!

Ingredients:

Salad: 

• Combination of lettuces such as Butter, Bibb, Romaine
• ½ cup raw shelled pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup chopped, mixed dried fruits, such as dates, figs, apricots, apples, peaches
• ½ cup fresh halved grapes, ¼ cup pomegranate seeds 
• 1/2 cup glazed walnuts (such as Emerald brand)
• ½ cup blue cheese (optional)

Dressing: (The dressing can be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated.)

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic
• Black pepper to taste

Directions: 

1. Combine dressing ingredients and shake well.
2. Combine salad ingredients and toss with dressing just before serving.
3. If making dressing in advance, shake well before using.

 

Yield:  8-10 servings

Lemon Pomanders For Tu B'Shevat Or Anytime!

Pomanders are the perfect decoration for Tu B'Shevat, (this Friday night) the holiday in which we celebrate trees and their delicious and amazing fruits! And though the holiday is almost here, you still have time to make a few of these to grace your table. And while you may not have the time, (I choose crafts over sleep on a regular basis, but I certainly don't expect that of you!) your kids can certainly sit down with a bag of cloves and make some themselves, with very little help!

My first experience with pomanders was using oranges (see that post here) which I honestly enjoyed more than making these pomanders with lemons because the orange peel was easier to work with and the fragrance was just delicious. That aside it certainly wold be nice to combine the two, and a lemon might be a better size for a small child with not too much patience. Just do try to pick lemons with the thickest skin you can find— don't attempt this on a thin skinned lemon as the project gets too juicy!

You'll Need:

• thick skinned lemons or oranges
• cloves
• ribbon
• the guts to display your creations on upside down wine glasses, a somewhat novel idea!

How To:

See complete tutorial here.

Baked Treats For Tu B'Shevat. Yumm.

In case you haven't noticed I've been way to busy crafting to even consider baking, but a few of my friends sent over some recipes for Tu B'Shevat that I wanted to share with you.

Mostly Healthy Fruit and Nut Cake
(photo on right, courtesy of my friend Tali over at matzosoup.com)

Tali likes this cake for reasons that all make perfect sense to me too! (can't wait to try this myself)

• delicious
• very quick to make
• lasts for a relatively long time (not that it would…in my house anyways)
• perfect with tea and/or espresso
• I consider it to be a healthy cake, I hope you'll agree with me on that one

Ingredients:
3/4 cup whole almonds
3/4 cup half walnuts
3/4 cup whole hazelnuts
1 cup black raisins
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup dates
optional: few pieces of dried ginger (will make it a little spicy)

10 tablespoons of whole wheat flour
8 tablespoons of brown sugar
3 eggs
2 spoons of squeezed lemon
2 spoons of almond extract or amaretto liquer

Note: when I was making the cake, I wasn't very precise about the dried fruit and nuts quantities. I did it according to what I had at home. and I also didn’t add any almond extract but used some vanilla extract instead.

How To:

• slice apricots, dates and ginger
• mix together with nuts and raisins
• add flour+sugar, stir using your hands
• add eggs, lemon juice and almond extract
• mix well until you can’t see any flour on the fruits and nuts
• pour into a pan (elongated rectangle pans are best for this cake)
• pack down the mixture into the pan

Bake for approximately 45 minutes at 320 ˚F  If the raisins start to burn a little, cover with aluminum foil
Let cool down before slicing. When you serve the cake, slice it really thin.

Delicious Date Bars
(courtesy of my friends over at gourmetkoshercooking.com )

Ingredients

Makes 16
1 ½ cups water
1 ½ cups chopped pitted dates
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted margarine diced, room temperature

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 8×8-inch metal baking pan. Bring 1 ½ cups water to simmer in medium saucepan. Add dates; simmer until very soft and thick, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Stir in vanilla.

Combine flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in large bowl; stir to blend. Add margarine. Using fingertips, rub in until moist clumps form. Press half of oat mixture evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Spread date mixture over. Sprinkle with remaining oat mixture; press gently to adhere. Bake until brown at edge and golden brown and set in center, about 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack. Cut into bars and serve.

Make Etherial Cherry Blossom Garlands From Disposable Tablecloths!

Isn't this just dreamy? I don't know why it never occurred to me that the chandelier in my stair well, as well as the banister are perfect places to hang seasonal decorations! In fact, other than painting this space peacock blue, (which I still love even three years later) I have yet to figure out how to decorate the space, so some beautiful garlands certainly give the space some life!

Sure looks like Spring time in this stairwell! And these would be great party decorations for just about any occasion, though I won't try to deceive you and say they were quick to make, because making a large quantity like I did (maybe at least 12 meters worth) requires quite a bit of time, though well worth it!

One of the really interesting things about this garland project is the material that I used. Disposable tablecloth yardage! If you're not familiar with this creation, it's the same fabric used in hospital masks and bibs, only available in every color to suit your party decor. The great thing about it is that it's not woven, so there is no unraveling, and it is semi translucent, so it looks a bit like tissue paper. And of course it's much cheaper than most fabric. And if you're lucky maybe you can even recycle some non-soiled ones from the next  party where they happen to be using such a thing. (Very common in Israel.)

Here's How:

1. Cut all kinds of shapes like flowers, circles, leaf shapes etc from disposable table cloth material.
2. Shapes needn't be perfect, and you can certainly cut at least 10 layers of fabric at a time, so the shapes add up quickly.
3. And now for the fun part: Sew the shapes together by running them through the sewing machine, quickly placing one after another, and not worrying about lining things up! The randomness is what makes them look like falling blossoms, at least to me!
4. Hang strings of blooms vertically or horizontally and enjoy!

A Simple Project With Spices For Tu B'Shevat!

Did you ever stop to think where spices come from? Many actually come from trees, so crafting with them is certainly appropriate (and great smelling) for The New Year of The Trees! Cinnamon is the bark of a tree, star anise (shown above) is a seed pod from a tree which grows in Southeast Asia, and cloves are the small flowers from a tree in the myrtle family!

With some of these spices, some colorful or metallic embroidery thread and even a few beads (not shown here) you can make some really nice decorations to hang, or use thin elastic cord and make napkin rings!

I've started to hang some on my chandelier, just need to finish! I previously shared a photo of my pine cone covered fixture, though to be honest, that was actually taken last year. This year I'm going with strings of small artificial apples that I lightly sprayed with gold paint to make them look more elegant, and tied them to the chandelier with wired silver ribbon.

Stay tuned for a few more last minute projects for this fun holiday, we still have four days left, which for me is tons of time, anything could happen! And tomorrow or later today I'll be posting some great recipes, so do stop by before you do your grocery shopping! See you soon, and thanks so much for spending a few minutes of your precious time with me and my creative adventures.

Celebrate Winter Fruit: Quick Tu B'Shevat Decorating Ideas

If you already know that you've got a busy week ahead, and there won't be much time for decorating for Tu B'Shevat (the Jewish New Year for the trees) here are a few simple tricks that you can do in just a few minutes. Stock up on colorful citrus fruit and some green apples, and in no time your home will look ready for this fun holiday!

1. Fill large jars or glass vases with fruit and water, simple yet beautiful.

2. Create a pyramid of fruit by simply attaching fruit to one another with toothpicks. In order to make this footed pot a suitable base, I placed an inverted stainless steel bowl into the pot to fill up the space.

3. Display colorful fruit and real greenery where ever possible — on open shelves, buffets etc.

4. Aren't you glad that you've started to read this blog? (I'm glad that you have! ) Now you too can enhance your family's enjoyment of this holiday without a huge investment of time. It's all about learning to think creatively! 

Welcome To The First Craft Schooling Sunday International Blog Party!

Hi there, won't you please come in? Thanks so much for coming to my party! This is the first one ever, and I'm really excited to share with you my concept for what exactly we'll be doing here every Sunday.The idea is to connect crafters and foodies from around the world to share with one another the best of what we each have to offer.

On this day I'm leaving the teaching up to the readers, who will link to posts on their blogs or sites that they'd like to share.  Those coming to the party can simply look at the list of entries and chose to visit the topics that interest them. Next week on Sunday I'll feature some of the most inspiring links from today's party.

For specific rules regarding the party, please check back soon. (I'm a bit pressed for time at the moment!) For those familiar with blog party rules, the only rule that is a bit different, is that I'd like you to put the name of your country in capital letters at the beginning of your description. You can certainly use an abbreviation if it's a country that most of us are familiar with, like USA, CAN, UK, MEX, NOR, FIN, IT, etc.

One last note before we begin. The wonderful and amazing audience of my blog consists of many types of very nice people of many faiths and cultures, and I do not necessarily share the views of those participating in the party. Meaning that while I can control the content of my own blog I have no responsibility for the content of the links posted at the party.  Also if you haven't participated in a McKlinky party before, you'll have to register on their site by clicking on "Get Your Free McKLinky Here" found on the right just a few lines down opposite "Powered By McKlinky"

Let the party begin!  I'm really looking forward  to seeing all the surprises that await! (And by the way, feel free to post several projects if you're particularly in the party mood!)

This first list is for Crafts and DIY Home Decor Projects.

This 2nd list is for Delicious Recipes and Food Related Posts. In the spirit of this blog, and so that the whole audience can enjoy the recipes, please do not post recipes with pork or shellfish or that mix milk and meat. Thank you so very much for making this party a nice experience for everyone!