creative jewish mom

Homemade Bagels!

What kind of a creative jewish mom would I be if I didn't try my hand at homemade bagels? Truthfully, before this blog was born I did actually bake bagels a few times as we had just moved from Jerusalem (where American style bagels are aplenty) to Northern Israel (where at the time American style bagels were scarce) and one of my sons just had to have bagels! Fast forward to a good five or six years later, and with the husband out of town for the first shabbat after Passover, I decided to try bagels instead of the traditonal key shaped challah I would normally bake. (Of course I did not forget about the key theme and made key shaped napkin rings!) Lest I digress, I enjoyed making the bagels, but it certainly is quite time consuming, and best done when one is not under pressure!

After the dough rises once, bagel shapes are formed. I did remember from my previous bagel baking that the recipes call for bagels that are half the size of the store bought ones, so I took this into consideration and made half the amount of bagels that the recipe indicated....which turned out to be about 23 bagels for 2 kilos of flour.

Here we are, boiling those bagels, so far so good. And after boiling they were looking really big and fluffy. Something happened though as they began to bake and they deflated a bit, could be because my oven somehow wasn't up to the required temperature however. Hmmmm.

Nonetheless, the results looked pretty good. As far as taste, not all the kids loved them, I gave myself a B+ though my daughter loved them toasted during the week.

So hopefully this wasn't a tease, but sorry, I'm not going to share a recipe with you, until I find a recipe that is excellent! This is just some inspiration to try making bagels yourself, and it's certainly a fun thing to do with the kids! I'd like to try making something healthy, like spelt, so I'll let you know if it happens!

Collecting Seed Pods From Cyclamen And Other Flowering Plants

Did you know that you can collect seeds from your cyclamen plant? This is if you've managed to keep it alive until now? This is the first year that I have actually made a concerted effort to properly care for a few of the cyclamens plants in my container garden, with the hopes of getting them to bloom again next year.

And along the way, after most of the blooms had ceased, the plant did start to look like it had a bunch of snakes coming out of the top, and I realized that those balls must indeed be seed pods. And fast forward a few months, and sure enough, I caught a few of them dried up and open, and full of seeds!

I did a little bit of research and it turns out that one needs to germinate the cyclamen seeds around July/August, and it may take 30-60 days for them to sprout, and this should be done in a dark cool spot. Sure would be fun to have a whole bunch of tiny cyclamens come winter! Keep in mind that in winter - when it's quite dark and cold - you might need a proper LED lamp to make them grow.

Cyclamen seed pods dried and open....with tiny orange seeds

General Tips For Collecting Seeds From Flowering Plants:

• You must leave flower heads on plants that you want to set seed. If the plant produces enough flower stalks you can deadhead some and leave others to fall off naturally while seeds form.
• Before you can collect seed from any plant it must go through the whole cycle of flowering, developing seed, and ripening.
• Some plants develop seeds within pods (like the cyclamen), others hide their seeds inside fruits or berries, and others harbor their seeds directly inside the dying flower heads. In all cases, any seeds produced will develop in close proximity to the spot where the flowers originally grew.
• It's best to let seeds ripen on the plants until they are *almost* ready to disperse on their own. Seeds collected too early will not be viable. Once seeds have finished growing they will generally change color (from whitish or green to tan, brown, or black) and begin to dry out. Pods will start splitting open, berries or fruits will shrink and wrinkle, or flower heads will begin to fall apart, dropping the seeds within.
• On many plants the seeds don't ripen all at once (check daily), and it can be useful to tie a small paper bag or the toe cut from panty hose over the seed heads to prevent dispersal before you can harvest. If this method isn't practical, collect the seed heads or pods before they are completely dried out (i.e. papery dry), and set aside to dry out indoors.

I I think I've got the seed collection idea down, and in fact have a whole archive of seeds I've collected, now I have to actually get around to sowing those seeds!  Hmmm, not such a simple task in a container garden that has no expansion capabilities! In the mean time, my seeds are safely labled and stored, and who knows, maybe there will be some sowing in my future?

Rainbow Loom Bow Ring, Super Quick With Great Results!

In case you were wondering whether or not the rainbow loom craze is happening in Israel, well it is....at least at our house! Truthfully, the real Rainbow loom is for sale here, at about twice the price that it costs in the US (though we splurged on it anyway, too good to pass up!) and there are several copies out there, even being sold at the grocery store!

The Rainbow Loom is a fanstastic creation, and people around the world are using their creativity to come up will all kinds of cute little animals and trinkets that can be made on the rainbow loom.....You Tube is stuffed to the gills with them! Of course, as far as bracelets, there are tons of tutorials for those too, though we like the ones that can be found on the rainbowloom.com website the best. So whether or not you have kids, if you love crafting, and the excitement of learning something new, run out and get yourself a rainbow loom!

Simple Paper Rosebud Tutorial For All Ages!

Paper rosebuds are so very sweet and so simple to make for all ages. The examples made in these photos were made by 11 year old girls in my Crafting A Future class, though slightly younger children can certainly make them as well with a bit of help. It's also great practice for kids to try drawing an even spiral, which is difficult for some, and certainly those who don't draw enough!

Paper Rosebud Bouquet Craft For Kids (And Adults!)

I just love paper rosebuds, so easy to make for kids and adults, and with great results! And a little bouquet of paper roses is so very sweet, to adorn your home or give as a little gift, how about a teacher appreciation paper rosebud bouquet? And of course they're perfect for shavuot decorations!

I showed the 4th-6th grade girls in my crafting a future class you to make these, and as you can see, the results are just the cutest. Okay, it's true, my daughter made the top one, as she happens to know that pastel colors look great together, a young designer in the making!

A simple bouquet would be a great present topper, and of course looks adorable in a tiny vase made from a mug or cup of some kind. I'll try to post an actual tutorial sometime soon but in the meantime, here's a despcription of how to make these flowers, really so very simple!

Popsicle Stick Bow With Skewer Arrows!

Last week at crafting a future, my group of boys charged ahead with the popsicle stick bow and skewer arrows craft, and even showed me a trick or two, which greatly enhanced this project! Truthfully, I thought they'd make arrows without bows, as I hadn't come up with any great was to make a bow with the supplies I had on hand. But just in case, I got out some popsicle sticks, and suggested that one could make a bow with them, and whatya know, you can actually make quite a nice bow with popsicle sticks!

 Now of course, this bow is for decoration only, but would look great on any wall!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

From last week's party, above: Fantastic pencil heart from my home is my castle (Sweden), and a fun fabric flower from la pera de grillos  (Spain)

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, the weekly get together which last week included contributors from: New Zealand (yippee!) Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, The United Kingdom, The United States, Guatemala, Australia and Israel! With so many wonderful projects, choosing the features is so much fun, and here are the rest, with a new added feature, in which I've indicated (hopefully correctly!) from which country the contributor hails:

 
Brilliant spring moss centerpiece from family chic, (USA)and a great nursng necklace from upcycled baby beads from mich in LA. (USA)

 A gorgeous pressed cherry blossom bookmard from onelmon (Japan), and fun tassel napkin rings from family chic.  (USA)

Ginx craft (UK) dazzles (UK) as always, with these knit sea urchins, and love this felt swallow from howling at the moon (the Netherlands)

Some some rainbow loom inspiration from rema designs, (The Netherlands) and a sweet tea pot card idea from paper crafts for children (New Zealand)

Use old photos to make great jewelry, with a tutorial from jewelry making journal, (USA) and a nice crocheted bunting from the crochet caretaker (USA).

A simply great granny poncho from Lanas De Ana (Guatemala), and another fun crocheted bunting from homemade at my place.  (Indonesia)

A crocheted butterfly from Anna Simple crochet (Portugal), and another impressive crocheted blanket from  my world of colours  (Germany).

Love these simple flowers from upcycled magazines from organized 31 (USA), and repurposed jars used for fun vases from organized 31 (USA)

Make a tiny cake in a few minutes from family home and life, (USA) or harvest dandelion flowers from a field near you house and make dandelion syrup from helen clyde (Germany). That is it for the features, what have you been up to?

Hello Again White Storks, Thanks For Stopping By!

Around noon today, just as my kids were coming home from school (Friday is half-day) we had the wonderful pleasure of witnessing another group of migrating white storks very close to our home. This year they have decided to snack on a grassy hill (and then tell their friends about it) not far from our home, so exciting!

Bow And Arrow Collage For L'Ag B'Omer

L'ag B"Omer is just around the corner in just over a week, so it's time to get the kids busy with some crafts for the fun holiday! This week I introduced the DIY arrows craft to my wonderful group of boys at Crafting A Future, and the results were fabulous. Some of the boys choose to make wall hangings as you can see here, while others made more traditional bow and arrow crafts, which I'll share with you next week.

These projects were made using my DIY arrows, in which I glued everything together for each child with a glue gun, not just the feathers to the skewer, but also the arrows to the paper, gotta love hot glue!

Happy crafting!

Petunias Petunias (And Calibrachoa) Everywhere, In The Container Garden!

Spring is here in full force and I highly suggest you take a little break from the crafting and invest some time in the garden, be it with containers (in my case) or with actual land. There is nothing quite like the joy of blooming flowers just outside your door, and they are such a great way to embrace the season! While my container garden is blooming away in many areas, I thought I'd share with you a new addition this year, which are petunias! Large brilliant blooms, and a happy go lucky kind of look that can be enjoyed just about anywhere, and certainly as hanging planters or at the base of a larger plant.

I love these purple ones, whick look more like calibrachoa, though I'm not quite sure what they are....either way, they look amazing at the base of these new hedenbergia vines.

 Oh, and in the window garden that's really a little garden balcony of sorts, of course, more petunias!

And at the base of my established hedenbergia vine, why petunias or course. Speaking of hedenbergia, I highly recommend it.....it's a fast grower in the summer and blooms in the winter with delicate little purple flowers when all else is generally bare or dormant.

Almost forgot. Why so many petunias? Well just before Passover I asked the husband to pick up a few flowers to fill some planters that looked awful, and while I meant the tiny containers sold in flats, he brought back a huge selection of medium sized containers in full bloom. So you see instead of the 16 tiny containers I requested, I got a huge amount of flowers just in time to make the container garden look amazing for spring. No complaints here!

A Note About Petunias: Had I done the flower shopping I probably would not have purchased petunias, as while touted as being perennials here they never look that good after the summer to want to hang on to them. So I did a little research and learned that when the petunias get leggy, one should cut back half of the plant, or even more to allow for new more attractive growth, and that overwatering also causes leggy growth. Also, one must "dead head" namely remove spent blooms if possible. We'll see how my petunias look come September!