creative jewish mom

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! It has been a very busy week for me, which means there weren't a whole lot of posts between this week's party and last week's party, but with Chanukah quickly approaching, I'll just have to find time to share with you our holiday preparations! Last week's party included participants from Israel, Hungary, Macedonia, Muldavia, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Portugal, The United States, Australia, The United Kingdom, Guatemala and Jakarta. Thanks so much for joining me here!

Here are just some of the projects from last week that have me wishing for more hours in the day:

Love the color combos in these crocheted granny squares from helena haakt, and this sweet embroidery from  handmade by amalia.

Love these crocheted blanket squares, with an appliqued letter, which looks amazing, from teszek veszek, and another great scarf from lanas de ana using a pattern called "baktus", gotta try it too!

A fun watercolor and masking tape craft for chanukah from the appy holidays, and ombre chanukah candles from design megillah.

  Fabulous copper pipe fittings candlesticks from pysselbolaget, and newspaper pulp ornaments using a cookie cutter, from helena haakt.

Crocheted women's slipper boots from crochet dreamz, and adorable little knit owls from ginx craft.

A fun crocheted necklace from the little treasures, and a beautiful crocheted shawl from homemade at my place.

Crocheted Flower Medallion Stool Cover, The Perfect Winter Accessory!

Wow, look what showed up at our back door, a crocheted flower medallion stool cover, that's quite simple to crochet, and turns a simple stool into a fabulous decorative (and useful) item in your home! Of course, the stool didn't really just show up, I had to do a little research to come up with a pattern, and then crochet it, but once again, most of the crocheting was done during the hour that I spent waiting on a couch as two of my kids took piano lessons! Whoops, that was another one that didn't quite come out as expected, this was done mostly while waiting for my husband to come home for lunch. The most time consuming part are the rows of single crochet— the floral medallion goes quite quickly, since I've done the crocheting and tearing out part already for you, in order to produce a pattern that works in this guage.

Forcing Amaryllis Bulbs For Stunning Winter Blooms Indoors

So happy to have finally gotten all the bits and pieces together to force some amaryllis bulbs indoors! The resulting blooms are breathtaking, and the process of watching the bulbs come to life is equally exciting, especially for kids.



This year I am equipped with lots of knowledge that I previously didn't have on account of a thorough article I wrote for Houzz.com about forcing amaryllis bulbs, so I'm really excited! Since bulbs love to be crowded a bit, and if one desires to save bulbs from year to year, one either has to put one bulb in a small pot, or three or four in a larger pot. Since I'm planning to tend to the amaryllis plant after the blooms die and then put it outside come spring, I've opted for a large pot with four bulbs such that next summer I won't have to be worried about a tiny pot drying out, which it will, very quickly, especially if put in full/partial sun as recommended. Bulbs do get bigger from year to year, so hopefully next year I'll only be able to fit three bulbs in one pot, fingers crossed.



The most appealing pot available happens to be the very first broken mosaic pot I made a good 14 years ago! It has been outside in the winter, with frosts and freezes and still going strong. You can check out my post about DIY mosaic pots, and see some nicer later versions in my post, as well as lots of other intersting mosaic inspiration here. Enjoy, the mosaics and the amaryllis! Plants and crafting do certainly go hand in hand.

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, the linky party that spans the globe! Last week there were contributors from The United States, Guatemala, Australia, Jakarta, South Africa, Pakistan, Israel, Slovakia, Macedonia, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Spain and The United Kingdom! Thanks so much for joining me here, and now for some of the projects that are inspiring me to get crafting:

While I usually put the kid's crafts at the end of the features, these Picasso inspired portraits from se7en deserve to be first on the list, don't you think?

Love these stash buster hats from Lanas de Ana, a crocheted ear flap hat and a fun knit hat, something for everyone!

Make a beautiful necklace with crocheted flowers, with inspiration from the little treasures, or bend yourself a sculptural wire flower from letitia svetu.

A sweet crocheted lamb from helen haakt can be used in so many ways, and just love this crocheted collar inspiration from the crochet caretaker, so simple and such a great gift!

Homemade at my place used her crochet skills to make a truly unique piece of wall art, while Ginx craft is using her knitting skills to invent some patterns, like the little cabled frogs on these gorgeous fingerless gloves.

 Granny squares look fabulous in brights, from Chris in de haak, and just adore this idea for using some tiny pieces of crocheted clothing from Anna simple crochet.

Threading my way has a great tutorial for how to lengthen jeans, as well as a step by step for sewing fabric scrap baskets.

Upcycle a large plastic bottle to make a basket, from la pera de grillos, or make your own vintage inspired arrow sign from hands occupied.

Potato Print And Sponge Stamped Wrapping Paper

Isn't this festive piece of kid printed wrapping paper just too fun to actually use? And it even looks like a geometric tree, don't you think? A perfect fall craft with some rich earthy colors, or not!

After making doodle wrapping paper, we decided to re-visit an old favorite, namely potato printed wrapping paper, which also morphed into dense sponge printed wrapping paper, so much fun, I can't wait to do more. And the kids also enjoyed it as it's fairly effortless with quick results, a great little perk especially if you'd like them to produce a bunch of sheets to use to wrap holiday gifts!

Of course I have no doubt that you'll just have to join in on the fun, as I did here above.

Granny Hexigon Project In Progress And Almost There!

A crocheted granny hexigon project that has been occupying most of my crafting time, is at long last almost finished! I have just two full hexigons to crochet and then five half hexigons, and then, it's on to the border, or possibly weaving in all those ends before working on the border. It's been a lot of late nights, as this one is twin bed sized, which means quite a lot of crocheting. Fortunately, the granny hexigon pattern is quite fun to make and I haven't regretted taking on a project of this size, well at least not yet!

Doodle Wrapping Paper Craft For Chanukah...For The Whole Family!

Get started with chanukah crafting by spending a little time making doodle wrapping paper! Last week I shared with you my idea for some all purpose doodled message wrapping paper, though truthfully that was an after thought after I created this DIY chanukah wrapping paper craft with my kids. You see we have a ton of blank newsprint paper hanging out at our house, so buying wrapping paper certainly seems like a huge waste, and for me just getting out some markers and doodling on a huge sheet of paper was very relaxing. I can't exactly say my kids felt the same way, for them the huge size was honestly a little tedious, but every child loves different things, so do give it a try.

Concentric circles are a great way to practice hand/arm control for drawing large things, and most kids will find this one a bit too challenging, but give it a try yourself!

The two kids (mine) that I could convince to partake in this craft both choose to draw centric dreidels, the results of which you can see here above, and below. So glad I have photos of their creations, as this paper will be used and tossed come Chanukah, yippee!

Next on the list, a little re-visit to our printed and stamped wrapping paper, (that we did four years ago!) and hopefully a step in the direction of getting serious about preparing for the upcoming holiday!

 

 

Crocheted Doily Stool Cover Pattern, Go For It!

Ready to crochet yourself a fetching crocheted doily stool cover? Highly recommended for just and hour and a half or so of work, and it makes any stool look ready for winter! My husband couldn't stop raving about my creation, which means I can crochet covers for the next two stools in front of him! (Know what I mean secret crafters with piles of laundry that must wait while we create?)

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Last week we had contributors from so many interesting places literally around the world: The United States, Canada, Australia, Jakarta, Germany, South Africa, Pakistan, Israel, Macedonia, Italy, Portugal, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, The United Kingdom and Brazil! Thanks so much to you all! Here are some of the projects that inspired me to get crafting this coming week:

Love this sweet crocheted granny squares blanket from happy in red, and this super chunky scarf from little treasures was knit using arm knitting!

Dimensional paper stars from design megillah make perfect chanukah decorations, and this sweet doll quilt from lost and found things, is just adorable, and a great keepsake.


Whip up some crocheted jewelry this seaon, with inspiration from little treasures, or if you're a sewer, here's a great pattern from blissful sewing, for a reversible hooded cape that would be fabulous in fleece.

The jewelry making journal shares all the info you need to make a beaded bracelet birthday party, for fun or profit, and love this knit chain link accessory from helen haakt.

A gorgeous example of entrelac crochet from my crochet projects, and some cheerful crocheted pillows from homemade at my place.

Love this helicopter craft from recycled bottles from there's just one mommy, and this fabulous rustic woven willow basket from Helen Clyde.

Crock pot granola (yes!) from mostly food and crafts, and a fun way to use toothbrushes from my home is my castle, which I have now learned to say in Swedish courtesy of this blog!