creative jewish mom

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Last week's party was just amazingly full of great projects, I'm so proud of you all! So once again, I couldn't resist posting a few more than the ten I supposedly limited myself to, it's just too hard, and who doesn't enjoy all the beautiful photos of such great projects? We had contributors from Canada, Australia, The United States, Singapore, Turkey, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Macedonia, South Africa, The United Kingdom and maybe even more, like France, Italy and India, but I'm just too pressed for time at the moment (with Passover preparations is full swing) to figure out if there's more since it sometimes requires a bit of detective work! Lastest Breaking News: I was right, we also had a contributor from Guatemala, yippee! So here are the features:

A beautiful seder plate option from design megillah and gorgeous paper flower napkin rings from Carolyn's Homework

Love this crocheted dolman sleeve sweater pattern from A Crafty House, and this great baby sweater from Lanas & Hilos.

Perfect crocheted forget me knots from little treasures, and this gorgeous paper bracelet from Carolyn's Homework

Serving pink lemonade made this great oatmeal cannister drum, adorable no-sew birthday shirts from repeat crafter me.

Felt roadway project from make the best of everything, and fun magnet pixel art from paint chips by haakensmaak.

Super mini garden journal project from red ted art and a paper plate peacock made with a hole punch from skin flint with scissors

Love love love this DIY plastic animal clothes rack from pysselbolaget, and these gorgeous machine embroidered flowers from Aisling Beatha.

Monster Ketchup For The Ten Plagues

Here is it, the simplest monster party idea ever, monster ketchup, and right now it's all about monster ketchup for the Passover Seder, you know for the plague of dam (blood)! Most of us don't have time for more than a ten minute craft at this point, so this one's perfect, and if you buy some new ketchup for Passover with a bottle that's covered in a label, so simply tear off the label and get to work. 

I'd keep this monster ketchup idea as a surprise for the seder personally if I were you, since it's sure to get the kids excited! And of course they'll have lots of fun using it all week long, or however long it lasts! And if this isn't quite your idea something you'd like on your Passover table, so keep this idea under your hat for a summer bar-b-que!

You'll Need:

• a bottle or two of red ketchup bottles with plastic labels that are easily removable
• a permanent marker or paint pen
• a tiny bit of monster imagination

Now of course, you could take my idea one step further and glue on some hair and some feet/claws of some sort or even do the face in pieces of cut paper, but it's really not necessary! And if you're looking for some more ten plagues ideas, so take a look at my ten plagues placards from last year, or any of the other crafts in my Passover archives. 

 

Simple Origami Jumping Frogs For Passover

Origami frogs, namely simple origami jumping frogs, that you and the kids can make in just a few minutes each, are the perfect craft for the Passover seder. And of course they'd work very nicely with the origami pyramids I posted about last week! Teach the kids how to make them, and then let them make a small army of little frogs to throw everywhere during the plagues portion of the seder. Sounds fun to me! And these frogs may even jump (or do somersaults as mine did!) just a bit when you press down on the fold just above their rear legs, which makes this craft just a bit more exciting.

Craft Dye From Old Markers

Dear thrifty readers, don't toss your old markers as I was just about to do, open them up and save the ink cartridges to make some great dye for crafting. Now, if you've been paying attention over the past few years, this is not the first time I've posted about this great idea of upcycling old markers, but truthfully I had forgotten about this myself, so I figured I'd remind you as well! Do check out my previous post, Make Craft Dye From Old Markers, and I know you'll never toss an old marker again!

As you may know, we are now in the heat of cleaning the house for Passover, which doesn't really require one to empty out all the drawers and closets, but we do it anyway, so that we can feel liberated from all that mess and disorder once the holiday arrives! I certainly can't begin to imagine what slavery must have been like for the Jewish People in Egypt, but I can certainly honestly say that right now I'm feeling very much like a slave to my not so great housekeeping habits over the past year, which I'm paying for now! 

That's all for now, I'll be back with more posts as they happen and hopefully a few more simple craft projects for Passover. 

Hardenbergia Winter Flowering Vine In Bloom

It's that time of year dear readers, the time in which I show you gorgeous photos of the blooming Hardenbergia vine in my container garden. Hardenbergia is a native to Australia and referred to as a lilac, which is does resemble, though in miniature form. This year I somehow missed getting good photos of my Hardenbergia vine, so I snuck on over to my neighbors and took photos of her vine, which is fair game since she purchased it with my guidance. And I must say, hers, which is not in a pot but rather in a large built-in planter is flourishing, and for some reason bloomed about a month after mine.

What can I tell you? In Australia this vine apparently blooms in the Spring and Summer, but here in Israel it is a winter bloomer! A Hardenbergia vine will make your garden look amazing, especially when it blooms in the winter when the rest of your garden is sleeping, and it's a fast grower who will fill out nicely and climb a trellis or any structure all summer.

It loves partial shade and flourishes in a zone 6-7 or warmer. So take my advice and add a little Hardenbergia to your life! Plus when they really need water they get a bit droopy, but are very forgiving, a great quality in a person or a plant, don't you think? Okay, gotta run, Passover cleaning is calling my name.

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! The pressure is on in my house to get everything clean and in order, and most importantly free of bread crumbs for Passover, but that doesn't mean that I can put aside my desire for crafting! So the inspiration from this party is especially welcome at a time when I really don't have any free moments to spend on creativity. Thanks so much to all of you who shared your amazing projects last week. Here are some of my favorites:

Isn't this junk mail collage portrait by michele made me amazing? And Aunt Peaches wonderful cupcake liner daffodils complement it perfectly!

I love this table make over by alternate endings design, and the felted crocheted satchels from Aesthetic Nest are just truly amazing.

 

These crocheted rain boot booties are adorable, and repeat crafter me even shares the pattern! And speaking of adorable, ever had a piece of your child's clothing you just couldn't part with? Here's a great idea from threading my way, for how to make a pillow from a cute shirt. 

I just love this beaded cup wind chime project from mom 2 posh lil divas and pom pom flowers from simple home life are looking great for Spring table decor.

Smoothies are all the rage, and two contributors shared great recipes: The Pinterest Project shared a tropical smoothie, and mom photographer shared an almond milk dark chocolate peanut butter smoothie.   

And last of all, but certainly not least, the wonderful little crafters over at Se7en made these adorable sock mini hobby horses, and I just love this contact paper window art by mama's little muse. That's all for now, looking forward to seeing what you've all been up to this week!

How To Remove Old Wine Stains

Photo from here.

I just had to share this with you my friends, this story of a little Purim miracle that occurred in my home the night before Purim, and that may very well be of great use to you after the Passover seder! It goes like this: my husband has a traditional Moroccan robe that he bought last year to wear on Purim. One of our beloved guests spilled wine all over the front of the garment, and given that it's creamy yellow stripes and of unknown fabric content I just didn't know what to do! So not so surprisingly, that robe sat in the closet for a full year, until I got up the courage to look for a solution. And low and behold, I found it! Yes indeed, I was able to successfully remove all of the wine stains, and now know how to remove the new stains that happened this year. Honestly I couldn't believe it myself!

You'll Need:

• hydrogen peroxide (mai chamsan in Hebrew), available in Israel at your local pharmacy in small bottles, about 10 shekels a bottle
• liquid dish soap
• a spray bottle
• an old toothbrush

How To:

Fill your spray bottle with a solution of 1 cup water with 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide, and then add a little bit of liquid dish soap. Spray the solution directly on the stain, and stand by as the stain disappears. Use an old toothbrush to gently scrub the stain if necessary. Depending on the type of fabric and size of stain, you may have to spray and wait several times, even over the course of several hours, but do keep an eye on the garment to make sure the hydrogen peroxide isn't acting as a bleaching agent.  I did not have this problem, but it can happen, so don't leave your garment unattended! And incidentally, after treating and removing the spots, wash your garments immediately.

Apparently, this process doesn’t actually remove the wine from your garment, rather it removes the color from the wine such that the stain becomes invisible! And I read that this formula works well on any organic stains, so try it on coffee stains, chocolate stains, tea stains, you name it. I have some clothes with mold stains on them (don't ask....) so I'm going to try this method for that too!

And last of all, one of the really great things about this little tip is that if someone spills wine at your next party you don't have to be a frantic hostess and worry about treating the stain immediately. That does seem like a sure way to make everyone a little uncomfortable don't you think? Just smile and say "don't worry, I'll take care of it later!" I do wish there were more simple solutions to all of life's little spills, don't you?

Potholders From Recycled Long Sleeved T-shirts

You can make some great woven potholders from up-cycled clothing! The potholders I just made from t-shirts, well I should specify and say actually from the sleeves of my daughter's old t-shirts, are so great I just had to share this idea with you. Plus I do believe that I sort of promised I'd try this out, so of course once again instead of actually cleaning for Passover I'm crafting with things I find a long the way! Well, I did go through some baskets of neglected laundry, which is how I found my materials, so a tiny bit of progress was made. Ha ha ha. Let's just keep it between you and me, shall we?

So while you're cleaning out the closets as a part of Spring cleaning or Passover preparations, do think about setting aside a few articles for some crafting fun. I'm quite sure you'll have more restraint that I do, and you'll be able to try this project out later when all the work is done, or at least hand it over to some kids old enough to do it all themselves?

I actually made two potholders from my finds from the neglected laundry basket. The pink and light green potholder was made from pink girl's knit tights, and the sleeves of a long-sleeved size girl's 8 t-shirt. The second t-shirt was made entirely from long sleeve t-shirt sleeves, and I should add, that with t-shirt material you can get a nicer sized potholder since it's less stretchy than tights and much less stretchy than store bought loops.

You'll Need:

• a potholder loom
• up-cycled clothing for loop making: kid's long sleeved t-shirts, adult or child sized tights and pantyhose of any kind

How To:

1. Cut off the feet of your tights, and the cuffs of your long sleeved t-shirts, and simply cut 1/2" slices along the length of the leg or sleeve. If any of your loops are a bit too long, you can always cut them and tie them a bit shorter if need be at the end of a row, I did this a few times.
2. Stretch the loops so that they curl, and you're ready to go. In the photo above you'll see the pink tights loops already stretched and the t-shirt sleeve loops un-stretched.
3. Set up your loom by stretching loops across the potholder in one direction, and weaving the loops across in the other direction. 
4. For a striped potholder like mine, set up the loom with a pink loop on every other tooth, and when weaving, weave with a pink loop on every other row.
5. For a checkerboard pattern, examine the photo below, and set up the loom with half white and half yellow and then weave with half white and then half yellow.
6. Remove the potholder from the loom by pulling one loop through the next, keeping in mind that the fourth side can get a bit difficult as the potholder tends to come off the loom and you have to do a bit of reweaving to finish it off. So it goes unless you make your own loom with tall nails, which would probably solve that problem!

Have a great time exploring potholder weaving with up-cycled clothing! And yes, you can make loops from t-shirt fabric by cutting elongated ellipses with a slit cut down the middle, though it's surely more time intensive. When I give that method a try I'll be sure to share it with you, not to worry. Happy Passover cleaning, I'm off to round up the kids to start on their rooms, wonder what treasure we'll find there?

 

 

How To Make Yarn From Sheets

Making yarn from old sheets is a great way to up-cycle something you might otherwise toss, and it turns out that knitting and crocheting with sheets is really so satisfying. So I have to admit, I really need to be cleaning for Passover right now, but when I eyed that bag of sheets my neighbor had given me two years ago it seemed like such a good idea to make some balls from those sheets, so there you have it!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Last week's party may have been just a bit on the smaller side, but the number of quality projects were just amazing. So needless to say, I have not limited myself to featuring just ten, as who need limits when it comes to sharing great inspiration, right? 

I just love hyacinths, so I was so very excited to see this tissue paper hyacinth project by Aunt Peaches, and found it so very interesting that it almost totally matches this great tassel bunting by haakensmaak.

I love this solution for storing ribbon in a wooden tray by the thrillz of hillz, and this paper bag sun decoration by michele made me is super!

Recycled jean projects are always fun, including this bag by between the lines, and this really great geometric pouf by michele made me.

These cute bedroom canvases by pinterest project are so simple to make, and I love these crocheted snowballs from repeat crafter me, maybe a great idea for the hail portion of the Passover seder? 

Here's a great idea for how to make a super cute spring basket from a creative cookie and I just love this candle from Carolyn's homework which she made by melting tissue paper onto the candle with a blow dryer!

This magnetic tote bag from ducks in a row is such an amazing idea, for yourself or as a gift, and felt so cute made this fun felt target for her girls to use with their Nerf gun in Tokyo!

I just love this butterfly made from the lid of a styrofoam egg carton from creativity my passion, and this snake by deceptively educational made from tp tubes is definitely on our crafting list! That's all for now, hope you found a few great projects to inspire you for the coming week, I know I certainly did. Now the question is where to find the time to live out my crafting dreams?