creative jewish mom

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Last week's party was again HUGE, and full of great inspiration, so thanks so much to all the contributors. Just one little reminder for food contributions: last week I had to delete roughly 15 contributions that I did not adhere to the rules regarding food submissions.  So please lets be respectful and only submit food items that do not include combos of milk and meat, or shell fish or pork. Thanks so much! And now for the features from last week's party, enjoy:

Love this quilted retro camper hot pad from flamingo toes, and this patchwork jeans suitcase upcycle from pillar box blue.

This little candy cornucopia is just amazing, from growing up gabel, and a fun sign made from mod podge melts, by mod podge rocks.

Another gorgeous quilted piece from flamingo toes, this time a fun table runner with feather applique. And how about making some sweet cross stitch art, like these from julie is coco and cocoa.

This indian corn cookie idea from marty's musings looks amazing as a place card, from , and love love love this fall themed chalkboard from ella claire.

 Love these mini pumpkin floral decorations from DIY candy, and this re-painted dresser how to from designer trapped in a lawyer's body.

A fun crocheted tea pot pad from anna simple crochet, and the beginnings of a fun quilted project from threading my way.

 Painted rock monster door stops from art club, and super fun DIY jet pack from cool mom cool tips.

Mini spiced meat pies from sugar and soul look amazing, as does this spinach salad pomegranite balsamic dressing from a dish of daily life.

 Rosemary and maple roasted squash from a pretty life in the suburbs, and apple detox water from sugar and soul.

Gorgeous looking popcorn balls from crystal and co, and triple chocolate fudge brownies from delightful e made.

Rich chocolate chip cookies filled with goodies from Winnie, peanut butter cinnamon roll cake from a simple pantry.

No-bake nutella pies from lemons for lulu and a raspberry chia smoothie from delightful e made.

Hanukkah Kid's Craft: Cut Paper Greeting Cards

With Hanukkah about five weeks away, now is a great time to get crafting, starting with some fun holiday cards so that you'll have time to send them to loved ones! One our our favorite way to make cards is with cut paper, as all you need is a glue stick, some scissors and some colored paper, preferably card stock!

Yes, it is true, my daughter also used a scallop circle punch to make the background snow, but or course that is optional. So let the hanukkah crafting begin, and why not start with a bunch of simply sweet cards?

A Round Up Of Hanukkah Crafts From The Archives

Above: Potato printed up-cycled hanukkah gift boxes with grocery bag pom poms, my favorite!

Chanukah is just about 5 weeks away, starting on December 6th this year, so it is officially time to get crafting friends! As usual, I'm starting with a little round-up of my favorite crafts from last year, though do check out this kid's hanukkah crafts round up from last year, as well as this hanukkah crochet crafts round up.

Love this watercolor dreidel craft for the whole family, maybe this year we'll actually get around to hanging them up somewhere, hmmmm. They're gorgeous just hanging out on a tray too!

 And washi tape hanukkah cards? Just as cute as can be and so simple to make!

And if you like the washi tape hanukkah cards, well you're gonna love these adorable little washi tape gift tags!

That is it for the round-up, somehow last year I was so busy around hanukkah time that I didn't share nearly as many crafts as I would have liked to. The good news for me this year, when I also suddenly find myself really busy, is that I've just discovered several projects that I didn't have time to finish and photograph last year, that are still looking good, and need just a few finishing touches, yippee!

Simple Mediterranean Harvest Watercolor Paintings For All Ages

With all the pumpkin crafts and fall harvest related themes floating around the web right now (and of course posted on Craft Schooling Sunday), I thought I'd share some Mediterranean harvest watercolor paintings as an alternative to all the orange pumpkins and colored fall leaves crafts which only really apply to a relatively small portion of the world! Now, of the four species that I'm sharing with you here, one of them is actually harvested in Israel in the late spring/early summer. Can you guess which one?

Yes, that is right, wheat! Here in Israel I don't know how much wheat is grown today, but anywhere that wheat is grown does not have a severe winter and thus fields are plowed and seed sowed in the Fall. The barley harvest is the earliest harvest, around March/April followed by the wheat harvest in May/June.

Of the remaining three items, which are all fruits, grapes are harvested started in the late summer, followed by figs, and dates. Ever seen what dates look like growing on a date palm? The individual branches do look like my watercolor, but these little branches are clustered together in large quantities creating a really spectacular site.

You'll Need:

• watercolor paper
• watercolor paints
• a pencil
• kosher salt
• some paper towels

How To:

With a pencil, lightly draw the outline of the fruits or vegetables that you'd like to paint. Fill in the shapes with watercolors, using a wet brush. Large areas can be painted by first wetting the paper, but this should not be done for small areas as then paint may bleed beyond the lines defining your shapes. If you add too much color, you can dab it with paper towel, and you can also use the paper towel to create texture by dabbing the painting in select areas. Do keep the painting on the wet side, as after you are satisfied with the painting, scatter some kosher salt on selected areas and set aside to dry. Make sure painting is 100% dry before you shake off the salt. I know, it is hard to wait, but if you don't you can ruin all your efforts.

These little water color paintings do look lovely just as is, or you can lace them together with some twine and make a fun little wall hanging. Enjoy!

 

 

One Hour Crocheted Baby Beanie Pattern, 0-12 Months, With A Button On Top!

After realizing that the sweet little one hour crocheted bonnet that I made last week wasn't quite right for the new baby boy in the extended family, I decided to make the quickest little crocheted baby hat that I know: the one-hour crocheted baby beanie, with a little crocheted button cover (omiting the actual button)on top. Okay, the addition of that button and weaving in the ends due to the color changes will add more time to the project, but it is still a quickie, especially after you've made one and don't need to refer to any instructions!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Last week's party was another amazing one, filled to the brim with fabulous creativity! And now, drum roll please, I FINALLY HAVE BUTTONS FOR THE PARTY, SO PLEASE GRAB ONE FROM THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!

For those linking up with cooking ideas, please contribute foods that do not combine milk or meat or include, pork or shellfish, in keeping with Jewish dietary laws. (I just deleted four link ups that did not adhere to the above request.) Thanks so much for your understanding, and additionally, because the party has now become a huge amount of work, I really really need your help in promoting my blog, so please do give that some thought, and at the least please link back to the party.

And now, for the fabulous features:

 

A gorgeous crocheted dream catcher from flamingo toes, and a fantastic mini pumpkin table runner with a free printable from Ella Claire.

Fun gift tags from fynns designs and a nice decoupaged stars chair from howling at the moon.

Fabulous plastic flowers made from upcycled hair rollers from mich in LA,  and really fun fall lampshades from albion gould.

Love these printable placemats from ella claire, and this upcycled sweater mountain pillow from pillar box blue.

A fun wooden map of the world for nursery decor from simply darrling, and love this boys room from fynes designs.

A super fun fall maxi skirt from bombshell bling, and a DIY chalkboard wall that doesn't involve chalk from designer trapped in a lawyer's body.

Love this cork pumpkin from decor by the shore, and these dryer duct pumpkins are brilliant, from simply darrling.

Love this appliqued familly tree pillow from my home is my castle, and a gilded leaf from atta girl says is perfect for fall.

 Sweet pepper bruschetta from krystals kitsch, and chicken tortilla soup from mama mommy mom.

 Coffee cake pumpkin doughnuts from delightful E made, and chocolate decadence dessert from eat pray read love.

Chocolate chip brownie cheesecake from the gold lining girl. and maple butterscotch scones from lemons for lulu.

Reeses peanut butter pudding cookies from sugar and soul, and lovely strawberry mini cheesecakes from spoonful of flavor. That is it for the features, what have you been up to? AND PLEASE GRAB A BLOG BUTTON TO SHARE THE LOVE! (you'll see two options in the right hand column)

Renewing My Committment To The Vegan Sugar And Wheat Free Eating Plan!

If there is one thing I have learned since announcing my plan to eat a vegan, sugar and wheat free diet for a year, is that proclaiming my committment publicly has really saved me from cheating in a big way! I honestly have not eaten any animal products, and as far as wheat and sugar, which I've only been doing for 2 weeks or so, I did eat some granola with added honey (since "sugar" doesn't necessarily include honey) but that is it.

I am rushing to finish all my preparations for shabbat, so I really don't have time to go into how I'm feeling and how I'm managing to be a vegan mom with a pack of carnavore (and husband) kids, but it is doable, and really once you make the choice and decide to stick with it, well, you just do it!

Thats all for now, thanks so much for being my audience and keeping me accountable! Here's to good health and a bright future for us all.

Moroccan Semolina Soup Is Simple And Perfect For Fall!

My husband at long last introduced us all to the beloved soup his grandmother used to make for the family on winter mornings, it is called shmeed in the Jewish Moroccan language, but we'll just call it semolina soup, or rather semolina porridge if you'd like to eat it for breakfast!

This dish is simple and quick to prepare and very filling, as it turns out that semolina has a lot more carbohydrates in it than wheat flour. My kids love this soup, and it also great for cold weather, as my husband has fond memories of going to school in the morning with a face that turned red from eating this hot meal.

The thing I still have not been able to figure out is if there is a "whole" version of the yellow semolina made from durham wheat that we use, or whether there is no such thing?

Ingredients:

Makes about 8 servings. You can certainly halve the recipe. Don't be tempted to make a big batch,  because the leftovers get very clumpy unless you make sure to add more water before storing in the fridge.

• 12 cups water
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or less if you don't love cilantro)
• 10 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup olive oil (I just made this soup without the oil by accident, and truthfully you can omit it, but you'll need to add another 1/2 cup or so of semolina, the oil somehow makes the soup thicker....)
• 1 1/2 cups semolina
• 1/2  tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp salt plus more to your liking

Preparation:

• bring water to a boil with everything except semolina
• reduce temp and gradually stir in semolina. cover and cook for 10 minutes

That is it, enjoy! To make this a wonderful evening meal, serve with some crusty bread, some delicious olives, a platter of vegetables and hummous, and maybe some baked sweet potatoes, or sweet potato oven baked fries. Something like red peppers stuffed with rice or rice + meat would also be a great accompaniement.

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Crocheted Baby Bonnet With Ties That You Can Make In An Hour!

There is a new baby boy in the extended family which means it is time to get back to some crocheting so that I'll have a handmade gift when we travel a few hours away for the Bris! I have been known to crochet gifts while in the car on the way to visit the new baby, but this time I figured I'd get a bit of a head start so that I can properly wrap the gift, rather than fumbling with paper in the car!

Vegetable Store Playtime Using Cutouts From Cardboard Crates!

I was the girl who once had a collection of California fruit crate ends (with gorgeous vintage labels) hanging on her kitchen wall in San Francisco (one of my first upcyclling projects that required tearing apart wooden crates on the street, oh my!) so I had to laugh when I found myself eyeing the cardboard vegetable crates that are often used by the store to deliver our order.

And then it hit me, the total graphics aren't generally all that noteworthy, but the vegetables can be pretty great looking, so I decided that I should start cutting them out to use for craft projects!

But before you get around to making a mobile or a wall hanging of some kind using these vegetable cut-outs, they sure do make great fodder for a little game of vegetable store, don't they? Recycling can be so much fun if you just open your eyes to the possibilities!

You'll Need:

• cardboard vegetable crates
• strong hands
• sharp scissors

How To:

Simply open boxes and cut out vegetables, but do be aware that you will need sharp scissors and strong hands. This is not something kids can do with any precision. I was thinking that one could make little stands for the veggies from slices of tp rolls with slits cut into them, I'll let you know if I try that one, sure could be s cute way to assemble a little play store.

Enjoy!

 

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