creative jewish mom

Stand Up Tree Craft Is Perfect For Tu B'Shevat!

Isn't this standing tree just the sweetest? Thanks so much to a reader Orit, who sent this in to share what she did with her four year old, love it! They'll be using their tree as a centerpiece this shabbat when we also celebrate the wonderful holiday of Tu B'Shevat, the new year for the trees. This craft is a combination of two projects from the archives, my winter tree from recycled cardboard, and my cherry blossom tree craft.

My kids are now hovering around early teens, so they are busy with school work, piano lessons and for some even more learning after school.......so after a long day they are not really interested in crafting, and when they get home I am usually busy trying to get dinner ready and the house in somewhat functioning order! So, not a lot of crafting going on around here with the kids, so I was especially happy to receive this photo!

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Special Grape Leaf Challahs For Tu B'Shevat

Wednesday night is the perfect time to bake delicious homemade challah, and with the special shabbat of Tu B'Shevat coming up this week, how about making your challahs just a little bit special? Well, of course all challah is special, but when you spend a few minutes to add a bit of extra something, well special takes on a whole new meaning! Let's do it, shall we?

Vegetable Carving 101: How To Carve A Carrot Leaf Garnish

 As promised yesterday, I honed my carrot leaf carving skills, and now present to you another installment in my Vegetable Carving 101 course, How To Carve A Carrot Leaf Garnish. It really is so simple and the results are fabulous. And for busy folks like most of us, these can be made days and days ahead of time! I'll be using these Friday night as we celebrate the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish New Year For The Trees, and can't wait to see my Shabbat table filled with all kinds of carved fruits and veggies, time permitting of course!

Vegetable Carving 101: Simple Carved Carrot Leaf

At long last I have found a really good reason to continue exploring the world of fruit and vegetable carving: the holiday of Tu B'Shevat is coming up this Friday night, and since we'll be celebrating with loading the table with as many kinds of fruit (and nuts) as possible, carved fruit and veggie platters seem just perfect. So introducing another instalment of Vegetable Carving 101, this time it is Simple Carved Carrot leaves! The great part about carrot leaves is that they can be made way ahead, like now for example, and will keep perfectly in the fridge in a container of water. The little leaves you see here are just my first attempt, and did it just before I was about to prepare dinner, so that all the little scraps were not wasted, but rather thrown into a chicken stir fry!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Thanks so much for joining me here! This past week was quite a busy one, with many celebrations in our community, including three weddings, one engagement party, sheva brachas from a wedding from last week and a brit for a neighbors grandson, wow! I attended three of these events, one which included traveling to a city near Tel Aviv and arriving home at 2am, so as you can guess I was so grateful for Shabbat, our day of rest. Of course Shabbat also includes me being the hostess with the mostess to a table full of guests, but the food is all cooked so the only work to be done is really just serving and clearing the table. Ahhh yes, of course there are some dishes to wash too, as some await me now as well, so lets get this party started!

Looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to, and hoping I'll have time to photograph some of the projects I've made in the past and have yet to post, and with the holiday of Tu B'Shevat coming up in 2 weeks, it's time to get crafting with all things fruit and fruit trees!

And now, here are the features from last week's party:

 

Love this budget room makeover with turquoise accents from simple nature decor and this amazing woven wall hanging from a pretty fix.

Great looking fabric covered boxes from Lolly Jane, and fun epsom salt covered candle jars from the real coake.

Chalkboard Succulent Pots From Upcycled Items

All you need is a little bottle of chalk board paint to make all kinds of fun things, and especially fun things from stuff you might otherwise toss! Presenting my recycled chalkboard succulent pot, made from the cup of a plastic thermos (that broke the first day my son took it to school.....husbands might be well meaning but not always aware of how quickly kids can break certain items!) I knew that cup would come in handy at some point, and just love it painted black, and as a little place to doodle with chalk, so much fun!

As you may have seen, I first made chalkboard apples which are so much fun, and then I made this succulent pot, as well as some chalkboard top babyfood jars. I'm quite sure there are more chalkboard projects to come, so grab some chalkboard craft paint for just a few dollars and have fun!