creative jewish mom

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, the special succos edition! On Sunday night we welcome the holiday of succot, a joyful seven day holiday (8 days outside of Israel) in which we dwell in our temporary dwelling for seven glorious days. As i write this there are still so many things to do, as in edition to preparing four festive meals and then welcoming my husband's family to our succah just after that (only 25 or so .......) I am stil working on those succah decorations, entirely new creations this year. So without further delay, here are the features from last week's party:

Love love this marrimekko decoupaged bench from pillar box blue (United Kingdom) and she used napkins of all things!

 

Fun DIY earings from jewelry making journal (ISA), and a fabulous crocheted pillow from my world of crochet (Germany.)

A lovely crocheted pillow from Chris in de haak (The Netherlands) and a fun little crocheted house pot holder from muscetta (Italy.)

Crocheted bobble edge from USS Crafty (USA) and a fun crocheted rug made from kid's t-shirts from my home is my castle (Sweden.)

 A wonderful toddler fleece jacket with pattern alternations from tea and a sewing machine (United Kingdom) and another great crocheted plllow from my world of crochet (Germany.)

 Sweet little wheat picture from grandmothers plus (USA) and a crayon melted pumpkin from there's just one mommy (USA)

Fun coffee filter flower craft for kids from engineer mommy (USA) and playdough monster rocks also from engineer mommy (USA.)

An apple tart that looks perfect for fall from Winnie, and apple oat muffins from life's little treasures (India.) That is it for the features, what have you been up to?

A New Year, A New Commitment To Following A Plant Based Diet!

As I was reviewing my year before Rosh HaShana, and thinking about the things I'd like to change in the coming year, after years of hemming and hawing, and wanting to take this step towards maximum health, I finally had the courage and the will to commit to eating a plant-based diet for one year. Yes, for one year I will not eat meat, chicken, fish, dairy of any kind or eggs! I have eaten a modified version of this before, and have gone for months without milk products, so it really isn't such a huge leap, but that doesn't mean that it is easy, especially since my whole family will continue to eat our regular carnivorous fare, and I will be cooking it for them!

Yes, a plant-based diet could be described as a vegan diet, though the roots of the vegan movement are really coming from a place of human kindness towards animals, and a person who is truly "vegan" will generally refrain from wearing leather, using down pillows, or wearing anything wool. From a dietary standpoint, vegans seem to be generally less concerned about the detriments of sugar, white flour and oil, than those who commit to a plant based diet.

I was thinking of starting another blog for this topic of plant-based eating though I think for the time being I'm going to write about it here. After all, I have two other craft blogs that I've been planning on launching, so first things first!I am using this blog as a way to keep myself accountable to my commitment, which also includes avoiding wheat as much as possible, and therefore keeping the diet much more vegetable and bean oriented as opposed to grain oriented. If I mess up or stray from the diet for any reason, I will fess up, right here on the blog.

I am now on day 25 of this new way of life, and I must say that I am feeling so much better than I was a month ago, and while it is generally very hard for me to resist all the cakes and baked goods we are making for the holiday, because they include eggs they are now off limits which just takes away the temptation all together!

Wishing you all good health in the coming year. Will I be eating meat after this year is over? I really have no idea, time will tell! I must run to continue my preparations for shabbat and the upcoming holiday of Succot on Sunday night, which now includes cooking up a pot of beans for myself, and maybe some red lentil soup as well.  And I truly couldn't be happier about it!

Tonight we usher in the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, which includes a 25 hour fast, and many prayers to do our party to help bring in the new year with blessings and good health. So for those of you who are fasting and observing the holiday, wishing you a gemar chatima tovah, and may all of us merit to be a little more like angels in the coming year, or at least on Yom Kippur!

Interestingly enough, this in the one holiday that is observed by most of the country, so Israel is taking a break from the mundane tonight, and we'll step back into the world on Wednesday night, see ya then!

Succah Decorations Using Paper: A Roundup From The Archives

With the fabulous Jewish holiday of succot beginning next Sunday night, well the pressure is on to get crafting! We dwell in our succahs for 7 days (8 days outside Israel) so filling it with beautiful crafts is certainly a great thing to do!  One of the simplest things to do is to craft with paper, though if you think it might rain, see if you can take these ideas and make them from something rainproof!

For starters, I just love these quilled paper ornaments, that I really want to try using craft foam! There are so many possibilities, and even youngish kids can get the hang of it, or if you choose to go the easiest route and staple everything together, so you can make a bunch together. For complete instructions check out my quilled paper succah decorations.

 

These paper accordian stars can be made is so many sizes, and really deliver a nice visual touch when done in bright colors. For complete instructions check out my paper accordian stars for the succah post.

I just love these little 3D flowers, which like I always say, can certainly be made much larger, or why not make a few sizes. For complete instructions, check out my paper flower globes for the succah post.

If you are looking for something super simple, well these lanterns will save the say, love them! For something a bit more artful, you could make the lanterns out of sheets of watercolor paintings that the kids (or you) have whipped up in your favorite colors! For complete instructions check out my paper lanterns for the succah post.

That is it for now, will be back with some more inspiration from the archives, while I try to juggle all those things on my plate right now, especially with Yom Kippur coming tomorrow night!

Make Mini Decorative Yarn Balls To Use Instead Of Pom Poms!

I am on a missions to make quick decorations for our succah (less than one week to go and not many free days, yikes!) that will also diminish my odds and ends of yarn. For starters instead of laboring over pom poms, I'm making tons of small decorative yarn balls which look great, and I'm also finally using up all the tiny little foam balls that I have on hand from the ping pong birthday party I threw a year ago, yippee!

I'm going to be stringing these vertically to use as a decorative chandelier of sorts (at least that is the plan)  but I think they could also look fantastic as a centerpiece for your coffee table, the perfect way to enjoy combinations of colors that you love, or to add some seasonal color!
 

You'll Need:

• yarn, hopefully those little odds and ends you don't know what to do with
• small foam balls, mine are about the size of a ping pong ball
• hot glue

How To: Dab some hot glue on the foam ball (sparingly as hot glue melts styrofoam) place the end in the hot glue and start wrapping the ball. Add more dots of hot glue here and there, but be careful not to overdue it as you don't want to see any hot glue! Keep wrapping the ball in all directions making sure that the resulting ball of yarn looks mostly round. That is it, so simple and so wonderful to have on hand for some many crafting adventures!

Stay tuned for more stash busting yarn ideas, and have a wonderful week!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, the first party of the new Jewish year, and a perfect time to get inspired as fall and the Jewish holiday season are both great reasons to turn up the fire on the creativity in your home! Last week's party had contributors from The United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Macedonia, Pakistan, India and Israel! And now for the wonderful features:

Love these crocheted beaded earring from tea and a sewing machine (United Kindom) and this bulletin board with a frame made from odds and ends of plastic toys by pillar box blue (United Kingdom.)

And to continue the streak of fabulous UK crafters, check out this fabulous and simple granny square blanket, from time to craft (United Kingdom) her first successful crochet project! And just love this vw bus fabric men's shirt that time to craft made for her husband after he saw the kid sized version on their son!

Here's a fun idea for a crocheted necklace from little treasures (Macedonia) and love this apple cozy from repeat crafter me (USA.)

A striped crocheted coin purse from vrolijk by leen (Belgium) and a fun striped crocheted scarf from chris in de haak (The Netherlands.)

A lovely wavy knitted blanket from aura verde crafts (USA) and crocheted flowers from Ginx crafts (United Kingdom.)

 Stuffed embroidered dolls from handmade by amalia (Israel) and a zippered pouch from sew can do (United States.)

 

Love this pumpkin and gourd suncatcher kids craft from the gingerbread house (United Kindgom) and a fun applique on a t-shirt, taken from a second t-shirt, by howling at the moon (the Netherlands.)

 Washi tape covered box from creative khadija (Pakistan) and a sweet little washi tape flag from engineer mommy (United States.)

Magic honey cake from Winnie (Israel) and a fun birthday party dessert cheesecake with a marzipan cat from howling at the moon (The Netherlands.) That is it for the features, what have you been up to?

Basil Pesto With Almonds Ice Cubes

At long last I have made pesto ice cubes, such a wonderful idea, and really perfect right about now not only because it is the end of summer, but because with a bunch of Jewish holidays coming up that will involve lots of cooking, it is great to have something tasty on hand to help whip up a quick meal!

The interesting thing about these pesto ice cubes is that they are much lower in fat than most pesto, since I only added a few tablespoons of olive oil, and I used only about half a cup of chopped nuts for a really huge bag of basil. Even better, I used up some chopped almonds that had been hanging out in my freezer for way too long, and while the pesto may not be quite as rich it sure was convenient! (Not to mention that both walnuts and especially pine nuts are more pricey than almonds.)

Ingredients: Rough amounts, taste pesto and adjust accordingly

• about 5 cups loosely packed basil leaves removed from stems and carefully washed
• garlic
• 1/2 chopped almonds
• 3 tblsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt

Preparation:

First place about a head of peeled garlic in the food processor, then add the basil in bunches, some olive oil and then the almonds. Process until desired consistency is reached and then spoon into ice cube trays. My batch resulted in about 18 ice cubes, though given the amount of basil I would have expected more!

Oh, and just by the way, these photos were taken with my camera on manual, and I have now realized that the best time to take photos in my entry courtyard is right around 11am, as the natural lighting has a nice cast at that time. Honestly, I can't believe that I spent so many years afraid of using manual, it really isn't difficult at all, especially for simple photos like this one!

Simple Hand Drawn Paper Birthday Decorations Really Are The Best!

This year when my husband and the boys packed for their yearly Rosh HaShana retreat out of the country, I packed a large sealed envelope full of simple hand drawn birthday decorations and a roll of tape! Now these decorations wouldn't normally be a surprise if we were celebrating at home, as I've been making sweet and simple paper birthday decorations like these for years, but far away from home I'm quite sure they were appreciated more than usual. And to my surprise they actually brought the decorations home with them, a bit crumpled but still worth photographing to share with you

Paint A Fun Watercolor Chameleon Wall Hanging For Your Child's Room!

After we painted watercolor strawberries and watercolor apples and pomegranates, I am still loving the idea of using watercolors in so many fun ways, so I thought I'd paint something fun for my twelve year old  son's room, as he just got his own room for the first time ever! Now that I've made this cute wall hanging and he loves it, I think I need some new accessories and bedding to pull the new look together! I live in a somewhat remote area, so online shopping is really helpful, and before I start shopping I like to check out chameleonjohn.com to see if there are any coupons that might be useful.

In case you are wondering if this little wall hanging just came to mind, and I set about painting it, well not exactly. At first I thought I'd paint patterns inspired by the amazing skin of chameleons, but that didn't quite work out, so then I thought maybe I'd make a painting, but that didn't quite work out either! So then I realized I just need to go with more basic painting, and this sweet little wall plaque was born! I can of course see this as a fun series to teach kids about important personality traits, can't you?

You'll Need:

• watercolor paper
• watercolors
• a pencil and a fine permanent marker

How To:

First draw the light outline of a chameleon on half a sheet of watercolor paper. You should of course look at photos of chameleons and take not of all their special attributes: the feet, the tail, the texture of the skin, the amazing colors......

Then fill in your shape with watercolors, wide stripes of color that bleed together will lead to the best looking results for those of us who are not quite so professional in the painting department. Use water, but not too much so that everything runs over the lines. While painting is still wet, sprinkle kosher salt over the desired areas and set aside to dry.

Once dry, gently tap the paper on a clean surface to remove the salt, and then add the eyes and mouth and a few details here and there using a series of small dots make with your fine line pen. Using a pencil and then a black fine lined permanent marker, add words and some little decorative flourishes. That is it!

And of course instead of "be adaptable" you could write "show us your colors" or "let your colors shine." Just off the top of my head, I'm sure there are some great quotes out there that would also be perfect for this little work of art. Enjoy!

 

 

The Apple Gift Boxes From Recycled Soda Bottles That Didn't Quite Happen

Yes dear readers, these are not apple gift boxes from recycled soda bottles, but rather the tops for apple gift boxes from recycled soda bottles! I was laughing at myself as the holiday of Rosh HaShana was nearing, that probably no one else on the face of the earth would be trying to craft like a crazy woman, while preparing Moroccan salads and bean soups and the aforementioned chocolate bark with little fish, as well as ice cream sandwiches (all of which were to take to the homes of various neighbors with whom we spent the holiday.) Oh, and of course, the house needed lots of neatening as well.

So in the end, while i had planned on packaging that delicious chocolate bark in little apple gift boxes, I quite simply ran out of time, and instead we placed the pieces in little cardboard cupcake holders and then wrapped up a trio in cellophane tied with a cute t shirt yarn ribbon. No one guessed that they were supposed have received an apple gift box, so we certainly won't tell them!

For complete instructions on how to make these apple gift boxes, check out this post. I must say though, i much prefer the leaves and the stem here, not quite so stiff as my attempt a few years back. And with these apples i will be using hemp chord instead of ribbon, it really works with the natural look of the stem.

Now I have to decide whether to continue making these apples to use as succah decorations, or to save them for next year? Stay tuned, the crafting for succot crunch is on, and hope to share with you all the craziness, are you ready?