creative jewish mom

Knitting Chunky With Multiple Strands of Yarn

Love super chunky knits? Me too, only there's no super chunky yarn in site at my local yarn source, and if there were, it might be well beyond my budget. So, for those of us who don't have Jo Anne's and other Lion Brand suppliers at our convenience, or if you're looking to knit chunky on a budget, there is a solution! It's called knitting with multiple strands, which is so simple to do and produces a knit that's as chunky as you'd like!

I knit this project, (more about that in the future!) using two strands of chunky yarn (100g = 1oom) and size 17 US/ 12 3/4 mm knittting needles, and the results are perfect. I do have to say though, that when knitting chunky, it's much more difficult to produce a knit fabric that looks perfect, as any little differences in tension etc. are magnified, though of course, it's nice when something looks a little handmade, right?

About six years ago I knit a blanket using four strands of worsted weight yarn in different colors to match my couch, you can read about that here.

Have fun experimenting with multiple strands and large needles, it's so much fun, and or course you can whip up some scarves and neck warmers very quickly!

A Simple Yet Beautiful Bridal Chair In Ten Minutes (Or Less)

You can make a simple yet beautiful chair for any bride in just ten minutes, in just a few simple steps, with materials that you most likely have on hand! In keeping with Jewish tradition, anything you do to make a bride happy is a mitzvah, so this one is certainly worth doing, especially since you can do it in ten minutes or less!

I assembled this chair yesterday evening for a sheva brachot celebration (read more about that here) in the neighborhood, as I have become known as the one who "does this sort of thing!" I have no idea whether other people decorate the bride's chair for their sheva brachot celebrations, but it certainly is a little tradition that I'm happy I've started as it adds a sweet touch to the celebration, and makes the bride feel special.

You'll Need:

• a standard plastic armchair, or any dining table armchair
• a white tablecloth, say 2 meters long
• a mesh patterned white tablecloth, 2 meters long or less (the kind that try to mimic fine crocheted lace, you know?)
• a piece of white tulle, 2 meters long, or any beautiful piece of fabric 
• imitation white roses, or any imitation flowers you happen to have

How To:

1. Drape white table cloth over the chair, such that entire chair is covered. 
2. Drape mesh white table cloth over chair. Take the two corners that fall towards the front of the chair, bring them around to the back of the chair, and tie in a knot, such that the fabric is nicely draped, and the bottom layer is held in place.
3. Tie the piece of tulle around just the top of the chair (the back), pulling as tightly as possible. If you plan ahead, so you could also get a piece that's long enough to tie a bow. Also fabric or tulle in a contrasting color or with some pattern could be lovely.
4. Insert flowers under the piece of tulle, and that's it.
5. Yes, it's true, in this case you do see the stems of the flowers, so if planning ahead it would be wise to wrap them in white ribbon.
6. No need to follow my steps exactly, just have fun with the layering of fabrics and make sure it's secure. I've done similar things with safety pins, but this is the simplest and quickest way to go!
7. I took these photos as the girls were knocking on the door to pick up the chair, which they had just brought over 15 minutes beforehand, with the request to decorate it! 

P.S: I really do think that decorating a chair like this could be great for so many occasions when you want to honor a special guest or family member, don't you? Birthdays, mother's day, graduation, anniversaries, etc. Enjoy! 

Challah Rolls For A Crowd!

Yesterday afternoon I baked 64 nice sized challah rolls for a sheva brachot celebration that we the neighbors were holding for another neighbor's daughter who got married last week.

After the traditional Jewish wedding the couple does not go on a honeymoon, they stick around for at least a week to continue the celebrations with friends and family, and get accustomed to their new status with loved ones close by. Once a day, for seven days, a festive meal is made, usually for a nice sized crowd, and specific blessings are said for the couple, which are called sheva brachot (seven blessings). As it turns out this particular meal was prepared for 150 people, and so everyone pitched in. I happen to know that the mother of the bride loves my rolls, so I just had to volunteer to make them, or at least 64 of them!

To make nice sized challah rolls, I recommend making no more than 32 rolls per 2 kilo batch. Of course you can adjust this number, this is just the exact number of rolls that fits perfectly on my oven tray. I should add that my oven is a 90cm freestanding oven, so the rack is almost (?) twice the size of that found in a regular built in oven. (The 90cm built-ins are substantially smaller, so consider that if you get to design yourself a kitchen!  The six burners and the huge oven in my freestanding oven was one of the best purchases I ever made!)

You'll Need:

• my no egg white challah recipe
• 2 kilos of flour per 32 rolls

How To:

Follow the instructions for making standard challah loves, just when making the balls, make 32, instead of the number you'd make for braiding loaves. After balls have rested, roll each ball in your hand to make a rope, about 8-9" long. (My kids gladly helped with this part!) Loosely cross the right side over the left, and bring the top of the right side up through the hole just a bit, sort of like a belly button. Tuck the end of the left side under the roll and voila! Check out the photo above to see if yours look like mine. Set aside to rise until their nice and fluffy, and bake. Yummm! 

For lots more posts about baking challah, simply type challah into the search bar on the top right of my blog, and you'll get a list of all my previous posts. You'll be a pro in no time, and believe me, there's nothing like the smell of freshly baked challah on a Friday afternoon!

Simple Crochet Filet Starburst Patchwork Blanket.....Finished!

I'm so very happy to report, that I have completed the simple crochet filet starburst patchwork blanket that I started way back in July! Truthfully, the squares have been hanging out in a big garbage bag for months just waiting to be noticed, and just in time for the heart of winter, a fun blanket was born with much greater pleasure than I had anticipated!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Last week's party was amazing, with so many fabulous contributions that I once again went way over my limit of ten, love it! I have to mention the countries in which our contributors live, as we have a new one this week, Slovakia! So here goes: Australia, The United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, Turkey, Portugal, Jakarta, Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, Guatemala, Japan and Slovakia! Did I miss anyone? ( Very often there are also contributors from South Africa, Israel, Hungary, Romania, Macedonia and Muldavia, but they didn't join us this week.) And now for the amazing projects from last week:

Happy in Red made these wonderful vintage inspired granny pillows, and Lanas De Ana made both a crocheted and a knit "use up your stash" hat, love them both!

Mod podge rocks made these wintery decoupaged candle jars, and mormor's glamour has a nice tutorial for making your own scented candles from candle ends!

Love this cardboard toolbox from the cardboard collective, and this amazing egg carton flower from michele made me.

An elegant and modern adjustable chevron ring from jewelry making journal, and this fabulous confetti mirror from Aunt Peaches.

 

An idea on Tuesday had this great idea for weaving with kids, or how about and a cute gumball machine countdown calender with stickers from serving pink lemonade 

The cutest ever owl calender from pysselbolaget, and a fun crocheted necklace from homemade at my place. 

Craftiments made this lovely no glue epsom salt luminary and love these fun buttons from dollar store jacks by Mich in L.A.

Love love love this long poncho from Estrea De Chikitu, perfect for stepping outside in The Netherlands, and just about anywhere with even a mild winter! Have to try and get the pattern! Wow, amazing inspiration right? Now it's time for some more! Thanks so very much to all those who step forward and share their creativity!

Chocolate Almond Cranberry Bark For Tu B'Shevat

Tonight is Tu B'Shevat, and the almond trees are on the verge of blooming here in Northern Israel, so to celebrate I just prepared this chocolate almond cranberry bark to surprise the family. Plus I've used 60% cocoa dark chocolate, and raw almonds, so it's really verging on what one might call "healthy!" 

I'll be serving the bark together with a nice spread of dried fruits, nuts and a few fruits that we haven't eaten this year, like coconut or maybe star fruit. I've purchased a nice assortment of olives to eat during the salad course, and even some preserved cherries to eat with ice cream or the apple cake we'll make shortly. Hopefully that's more than enough to help us celebrate this special holiday!

Ingredients:

• three regular sized (100g) dark chocolate bars, 60% cocoa (you can use more chocolate if you want a great ratio of nuts to chocolate, I just trying to keep the sugar content as low as possible!)
• 2 cups chopped almonds, I used raw, you can also roast them yourself, but roasted nuts are not as healthful
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Preparation:

Melt chocolate in a double boiler, and add 1 1/2 cups of almonds and about 3/4 cup of cranberries. Stir and pour onto parchment paper (placed in a 9x12 pan) Spread to about 1/4" thick, and sprinkle remainder of almonds and cranberries on top.. Set aside to cool and break up into smallish chunks. Note: It was devoured, and I must say, an amazing treat!

Enjoy, and wishing you all a very happy Tu B'Shevat! I'll be back next week with my yearly photos of the almond trees when they're just a tiny bit in bloom, my favorite!

Recycled Plastic Bottle Flower Bouquet

Yippee, I do believe I have come up with a fun way to make recycled plastic bottle flowers that look artfully elegant! Just in time for spring, though of course these flowers will last practically forever, and are great to have on hand for a last minute centerpiece. Plus your recycled plastic flower bouquet will be the talk of the town, and then you'll end up teaching all of your friends to make them too, so do keep that in mind! Truthfully, no one actually asked me to teach them how to make them, they just asked to take some home! Oh and the kindergarten teacher borrowed a bouquet to teach her students about recycling, which made me very happy!

The story goes like this: in September 2011 I made some gold plastic bottle flowers for my succah, and posted about them as simple plastic bottle flower ornaments. As I recall I didn't think they looked quite finished enough, and when I ran out of time I stuffed them all into a garbage bag, where they sat patiently awaiting their debut here! Last week I needed some arrangements, eight to be exact for a community party, and decided to  try combining a small version of my giant paper flowers with the a newly updated and improved version of plastic bottle flowers, namely with fabric rosette centers! And I'm happy to say I love the results. 

So gather together your supplies and follow the tutorials which I've linked to below. For each bouquet you'll need at least two paper flowers and six to eight (or more for a huge bouquet) plastic bottle flowers in a variety of sizes.

For the recycled plastic bottle flowers: follow my tutorial here.

For the paper flowers: follow my tutorial here, just make a five petaled flower using the smallest petal only. Make pom poms from pink yarn, ours is variegated, and attach with hot glue.

Enjoy and let me know how it goes!

 

Recycled Plastic Bottle Flowers DIY, For A Bouquet!

These are the recycled plastic bottle flowers that I used in my recycled plastic bottle flower bouquet. Of course they don't look exactly lovely from this view, but I wanted you to understand exactly how I made them, so that you can DIY them yourself!

While I did experiment with a variety of shapes, the four I'm showing you here are by far the most successful. Of course feel free to experiment and come up with your own flower shapes!

 

Above: The simplest petaled flower to make is with either eight or six petals. Of course if you want to make flowers that look more like daisies, so try ten petals, which could be nice though will take more time and patience.

Above: These two smaller flowers are great filler flowers for filling space around the rim of the vase, or wherever needed. The one on the left is an 8 petaled flower yet to bloom, and the flower on the right is sort of like a chrysanthemum, and a great addition to the bouquet. And yes, I did make long versions of this chrysanthemum, but they ended up looking like giant spiders, and not all that pretty. Your call!

You'll Need:

• plastic soda bottles
• tutorial for cutting plastic bottles for crafting
• tutorial for making plastic bottle flowers
• gold spray paint
• skewers, both heavy duty and light weight
• sheer fabric, metallic or colorful....I used disposable table runner material which is slightly stiff
• a hot glue gun

How To:

1. Make flowers according to tutorial, and spray paint of the backside of the flower. 
2. Affix skewers to flowers by hot glueing them inside the nozzle, on the side. I used heavy duty flat skewers for the larger flowers, and regular small round skewers for the smaller flowers
3. Make fabric rosettes and affix to center of flower to hide hole. There are a million tutorials on google, though this one looks good, and not too perfect, which is preferable.
4. Cover the neck of the bottle with fabric, and affix with hot glue, and do a better job than I did! Though truthfully when the flowers were packed into a bouquet, you really don't see the necks. Plus I ran out of this gold fabric, so only had little scraps to use. You might want to cover the entire stem with fabric, your choice!
5. Arrange flowers in a vase and trim skewers where necessary to make a nice arrangement.
6. That's it, enjoy!

Note: There is one more flower that I forgot to photograph, and than involves using the bottle bottom and gluing it to the center of a large six petaled flower, and then affixing a rosette in the middle. Will try to photograph that for you another day!

 

Get Out The Paints Mommy!

I have to confess — I have not been encouraging my kids to paint nearly enough, and I am now in the process of rectifying that lack by getting out the paints and including painting in more projects. Are you with me? Forget about all the mess, we've got to do it! And who knows, maybe my kids will inspire me!

Learning to hold the brush properly and learning how to apply paint are in themselves good skills, not to mention that painting certainly helps build fine (and not so fine, with large brushes) motor skills, which are very important for every child.

Fortunately, my seven year old is more than happy to participate in our new "get out the paints" program, phew! Last night he painted some elements that we'll use to make some artful trees for Tu B'Shevat, though not exactly sure how it will come together just yet! 

That's it for now, today is voting day in Israel, and I'm off to cast my precious vote! 

Golden Leaf Garlands For Tu B'Shevat

Golden leaves.....leaves from grape vines, olive trees, pomegranate trees and fig trees......are the perfect subject for making elegant garlands for Tu B'Shevat! 

I actually used these small garlands to wrap around hurricane candle vases for a party last week, and now I'll enjoy them hung just about anywhere thanks to washi tape!

 You'll Need:

• gold cardboard, or gold contact paper affixed to cardboard
• leaf shapes to trace
• crochet string or yarn
• a tool for scoring, I used the end of a small metal crochet hook

How To: Find some photos of these leaves courtesy of google, print them out, make a template from a cereal box, and trace your leaf outline onto golden cardboard.  Cut out, and score leaf vein lines in your cardboard with a dull took or some kind....a ball point pen that's out of ink, etc. and assemble! I couldn't find my hole punch, so I made holes with a large needle.

Also, if you're so inclined, you can crochet your leaves together as I did using a tiny crochet hook, and one strand of metallic gold and one strand of creme crochet string. The crocheted chord adds a little decorative touch that makes the garlands look truly elegant!

And after you've enjoyed them for Tu B'Shevat, pack them away carefully to use as Succah decorations and applaud yourself for getting a head start on your Succah decorations!