creative jewish mom

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! As I type this the tempertures are tippng 37C, which is about 97F, certainly a little on the warm side, but great crafting weather if you're fortunate enough to have air conditioning!  Speaking of crafting, last week's party was full of great projects to get you inspired this summer, and here are some of my favorites:

Love this crocheted ball with a balloon inside from artinheelo, great soft toy for indoors, and these adorable fishies from Anne Marie have been on Craft Schooling Sunday in the past, but they're too cute not to share again, especially since there's a free pattern!

Design megillah made some great havdalah spice bag favors, and home made at my place made these great retro yarn dolls, a fun craft for the kids, and you can make octopuses in the same way!

Doily decoupaged wine bottles from craftiments look great, and repeat crafter me did an amazing job with these crocheted monster comfort blankets! 

Silly pearl's teacher appreciation idea (with a free printable) is fabulous, and love Sandy's idea for a scrappy bunting.

Here are two simple projects for the kids: a nature walk bracelet from little lucky, and a butterfly banner from Red Ted Art. 

And last, but not least, two fun wearable projects, a recycled plastic bottle jet pack backpack from jellyfish jelly, and a fun appliqued t shirt from Carolyn's homework. Inspired? Let's get crafting, but first do take a moment to share what you've been up to!

The Beauty Of Grape Vines

I started off the week showing you photos of dates just beginning to mature, so I thought I'd end the week with some photos of lush vines with grapes in my neighborhood! Grapes, pomegranates, olives, dates and figs are together in a category of special fruits that have an inherent holiness to them according to Jewish law, so we are particularly excited to witness their growth and to enjoy eating them when they are in season.

Traditionally, when one built a home in Israel, a grape vine was planted in the yard. Many also aspire to plant trees from each of the fruits mentioned above in their gardens. And those who are fortunate enough to live in old stone homes very often have a wonderful grape vine growing in their yard that generally climbs to a second story and provides share on a pergola on a second floor balcony! Dreamy. Sometimes I just wish there were a yard sign telling about the grape vine, with information about who planted it and when, wouldn't that be amazing?

Stamped Birthday Party Favor Tags

Birthday party favor tags, or gift tags for any occasion are so simple to make with just some stamps, colored ink stamp pads and the colored card stock of your choice! I always love the hand crafted look, and this is a great occasion to go all out with the artistic imperfection, which makes this craft perfect for little ones too!

Kid's Craft With Paper: Mosaic Collage!

Above: Paper mosaic pomegranate craft by Tanya Garber

Here's a simple kid's craft idea that you can use in so many ways— mosaic collage. Mosaic paper collage crafts require only a few simple supplies, like paper, tissue paper, card stock or cardboard and glue or decoupage medium. Oh, and possibly a black marker if you'd like to outline your shapes first. Use a brush to apply some watered down glue to the paper, stick the pieces on and then go over the tops of the paper pieces with some more glue if necessary.

Above: Paper mosaic fig craft by Tanya Garber

I just love these masterpieces of a pomegranate and figs, made not by us, but lucky for me by a thoughtful reader, Tanya Garber from Australia, who just happened to send me these photos today when I was lacking the time to post something of my own. Not only that, my last post was about dates, so this is a perfect follow up. That's all for now, gotta run, have a great day!

PS: I strongly believe in the idea of making Succah decorations during the summer when you have the time to really get into it, and these would be perfect. Just make sure store them away from light and well protected.

Date Palms And A Word About Dates

Most of you probably don't walk out of your dentist's office and see a date palm with tiny fruits forming, so I thought I'd share these photos with you from a recent trip to Rosh Pina, not far from my home in Northern Israel.

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Last week the party grew just a bit and there were many many more crochet projects, which makes sense since I've been on a bit of a crochet adventure myself! There's something about summer and the beautiful weather just makes crafting seem all the more attractive, which I can't really explain, but am happy that the inspiration that the sunny skies are bringing. Thanks so much to all of you for participating in this little weekly get together! Here are some of my favorites from last week:

 Great figurine topped storage jars from red ted art, and adorable mail box craft from pysselbolaget.

 A no-sew blue tu tu by Helen Clyde, and a fun recycled milk jug chicken planter from the crumb factory.

 Fun budget wall art by mod podge rocks, and these fun cookie cutter printed candle sleeves by family chic.

Super sweet crocheted baby sun hat from my merry messy life, and a nice granny square pillow by happy in red.

A hello kitty look alike crocheted stuffy with pattern, from kirvei, and  much more simple and totally different kind of cat from breienenhaken,

A great minnie mouse crocheted hat (there's a mickey too!) with pattern from repeat crafter me, and home made at my place made this super colorful crocheted rug with a non slip backing to boot! Now, let's see what you've been up to!

Kid's Kite Craft With Drinking Straws

Want to make some adorable kites for your next birthday party, or involve the kids in a fun summer craft? How about making some kites using drinking straws and tissue paper? It's so much fun, and we can't wait to make more! I was invited by Marie over at Make and Takes to participate in her Storybook Summer Series, and so we made this craft based on inspiration from a favorite story! Can you guess which one? 

The project basically involves drinking straws, tissue paper and glue.

And we enjoyed every step of the way. I just love how the neon straws look on this dark tissue paper!

And ta da, a super fun summer kite garland is born to grace your walls, indoors or out! So head on over to Make and Takes for my complete tutorial on how to make drinking straw kites! Enjoy, and let me know how it goes!

Crocheted Rag Rug From Sheets Completed!

It is with great joy that I can finally share with you the great news that my latest crocheted rag rug from sheets has been completed. Yippee! Crocheting rugs from sheets pillowcases and the like is really so very satisfying— so much so that I can't wait to start the next rug!  This rug is for my boy's room and I love the fact that it looks like something from space or sea....an mix between a fiery sun and and the deep blue ocean?

Homemade Cards From The Heart

There's nothing quite as sweet as homemade cards for any occasion, right? And encouraging kids to spend a little effort to express their feelings for another on an important day is certainly something every parent should do. I grew up making cards, and now I'm happy to say my kids have taken on the  family custom. My three youngest made these cards for a cousin on the occasion of her henna party (a Moroccan engagement party of sorts) a week before the wedding. The lovely one above was made by my almost ten year old daughter, with no help from me whatsoever, and I have to say I was quite impressed by her composition!

The card in the middle, made by my seven year old son depicts a pair of Shabbos candles, since lighting candles on Friday evening before sundown is one of the mitzvahs a young Jewish woman can observe when she marries. And the slightly more no-nonsense card on the left with combines the message and the design all in one was made by my slightly no-nonsense eight year old son.

And for those of you who read Hebrew, here are the sweet messages, from the heart.

Recycled Cans Wrapped With Rags!

Here's a fun little picnic centerpiece idea that's just so simple and sweet. Take some recycled tin cans and tie strips of torn sheets or woven rags of any kind. Got it? These would be great little party favors, or centerpieces for any casual outdoor gathering. Plus you could use some on the buffet to hold the silverware, or fill them with sand and use them to hold the tablecloth down!

The reason that I had some strips of rags on hand is that I've been working on my crocheted rag rug the past few days, so hope to have some more progress to share with you soon!