creative jewish mom

Ceramic Kid's Craft: A Red Poppy Ring Dish

Spring is here, and the fields of Israel are covered with wild flowers, a truly lovely sight, In Northern Israel, the red poppies are an indigenous species that we look forward to seeing every year, and this year we were inspired by our love of this special flower to recreate it in the ceramics studio. With my guidance (I have to admit) my son made this sweet red poppy ring dish, that I think we will use on our passover table this year to hold salt.I only wish we had made a bunch of them so that the table would look like a field of wild flowers! Ah, yes, that is what I'll start to work on for next year, as I just love this one and was thinking I would make some more delicate ones.

A floral ring dish or even votive candle dish is a great project for those just beginning to explore the realm of ceramics (or truthfully paper mache as well), or air drying clay, as it involves just a few simple steps, ready?

Recycling Yarn By Simply Unraveling Old And Tired Knits!

About ten or so years ago I knit a chunky afghan using four strands of yarn to match our couch. I was happy with the results and it was a present for my husband's birthday, the only problem was that after around a $40 dollar investment using cheap acrylic yarn and a lack of time to make the blanket bigger, I stopped knitting and called it a day. My husband always made jokes about the fact that the blanket was too short, so for subsequent crocheted blankets, as well as a quilted fleece blanket, I made sure that they were amply sized!

To make a not so interesting story shorter, this blanket was used on the couch until I changed the colors in the living room, and until it started to look, well a bit like a rag of sorts and got stuffed into a closet. Fast forward to operation Passover cleaning 2017, and when I spied the knit afghan in my son's closet, well I knew that rather than give it away to someone who wouldn't really love it anyway, I should simply unravel it and get a huge amount of yarn to use next fall for winter booties, hand warmers etc. for the whole family, maybe even for the whole neighborhood!

Five Minute Cake Decorations In A Pinch!

One of my dear nephews from New York was coming for his last shabbat with us before heading back to the USA after a two year stint in Israel, so I just had to make him a good-bye cake! The only problem was that the house had been turned upside down with Pesach cleaning, we had some construction done which added a layer of ground dust to the upside down state, I had to go to a Bar Mitzvah celebration Thursday night, we were loosing a hour due to turning the clocks ahead.........oh, and of course the cake and the cake decorations had to be made before sundown on Friday, phew.

Quck and cute is my motto, and sometimes you just gotta lower your standard, or you might miss an opportunity to make someone feel special, right? Keep on reading for a few tips that I'll use next tiem I need to make cake decorations in a pinch!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

 

 

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, a wonderful little get together of crafters from around the world, and very talented ones I must say! There is always so much great inspiration here at the party, that while sometimes I wish it would be a bit bigger, when it has been I could never find the time to look at all the contributions, so be careful what you wish for! 

At the moment I'm wishing and hoping for the hours to stretch out during the next two weeks as we prepare for Passover, as I still have high hopes for some crafting for the holiday, though don't hold your breath!

That said, I hope you enjoy the features from last week, and thanks for joining me here!

A super sweet crocheted baby sweater from Anne Marie's haak blog, and a simple yet so lovely crocheted beach bag for beginners from do it your freaking self.

An artful fruit art garland from duct tape and denim, and a great way to dress up a crate from the scrap shoppe blog.

DIY Loom Potholder Using T-Shirt Yarn And DIY Potholder Loops

After cutting up a bunch of my boy's old striped polo style shirts to make t-shirt yarn, I just couldn't bear to toss the remnants, namely the section above the armpits, so rather than clean for Pesach I embarked on a small research project regarding using a pot holder loom to make potholders from t-shirt yarn and presented you with the post 3 Ways To Use Old T-shirts To Weave Potholders.

Of the three potholders that we wove for our research project, there was one that in my eyes was just right, so I now present to you the technique that we used, and hoping that this craft will not only get you too on the road to cleaning out those closets, but also teaching kids about the idea of re-using what we can, and recycling what we can't. Ready?

3 Ways To Use Old T-Shirts To Weave Potholders (Revisiting A Classic Kid's Craft)

After cutting up a bunch of my boy's old striped polo style shirts to make t-shirt yarn, I just couldn't bear to toss the remnants, namely the section above the armpits, so rather than clean for Pesach I embarked on a small research project regarding using a pot holder loom to make potholders from t-shirt yarn and other remnants!  When others embark on research say of rare insects or you name it, that is esteemed work, right? In our crafty world, certainly exploring pot holders is just as important, or is that my alter ego talking who just doesn't want to get on with the cleaning? Regardless, I do hope you'll enjoy this little research project, I know I certainly did! Oh and by the way, if you are looking for a fun weaving project that makes something larger than a potholder, check out my DIY t-shirt remnants woven placemat, so cute!

DIY T-Shirt Yarn From Boy's Striped Shirts

Passover is in exactly three weeks, and at this point we should be in the middle of turning the house inside out......and so of course at this point the procrastination monster takes charge and says why not make some t-shirt yarn? After all lovely balls of homemade t-shirt yarn just waiting to be used is much more orderly than a pile of old striped shirts that have seen better days, right? Ha, ha ha, but what can I say i just love seeing the balls of yarn from old garments and linens piling up!

Thinking of making some DIY t-shirt yarn yourself? You really should, just keep reading for a few important tips!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

 

 

 

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, and thanks so much for joining me here! So as it happens it appears that the grill on my oven is not working, which is quite a calamity on a Thursday night when I need it to make my healthier version of the Moroccan salads my family loves and counts on for Shabbat. You know, like grilled eggplant in cubes and slices (normally fried) and roasted red peppers and roasted hot peppers (normally fried), hmmm, which means I'm gonna have to actually fry at least the eggplant cubes and the hot peppers, which means I'll need to be watching the stove, not working on getting this party going. So, without further delay, I present to you the fantastic features from last week's party:

 

Just adore these sunny side up egg pillow from do it your freaking self, and these gold crushed can planters from pillar box blue.

A fun rainbow doormat made by Jennifer Perkins for a client of hers here, and a really fabulous graduation party (made a few years back, I changed the date, shhhh) by pink peppermint design.

Keep reading for lots more great projects, oh and those rainbow soap popsicles......

DIY T-Shirt And Sheet Yarn Is A Spring Cleaning Tradition!

Yes, dear readers, when you see photos of DIY sheet and t-shirt yarn, you can surely guess that the Pesach house cleaning and organizing has begun! And of course, since I'd rather craft than clean, one of the first things I always do is look for old sheets that are no longer presentable, and clothing whose condition is too poor to pass along to those in need. (We happen to have many neighbors with large families who always appreciate out hand me downs, so I only cut up really ragged t-shirts and night gowns and such.)

Lucky for me, one of the things that was begging to be made into sheet yarn was a comforter cover, the optimal thing to use as from the giant tupe that results cutting off the two ends, one can make one continual piece quite easitly. And that green yarn? That is from my daugher's old nightgown, yippee!

Simple Gift Tags From Paper Scraps

With Purim still fresh in my memory, one of the things that always stresses me out on the very festive and busy holiday is making gift tags at the last minute, as well as wrapping up gifts in celophane, yuck. This year I de-stressed myself by personally delivering homebaked and prepared foods on a sweet cake stand I'd made......no need for wrapping or a gfit card, and it was so much fun! That said, i could have used a few ready to use gift tags, and so I am now committing to spending this year using all my little scraps of paper for making fun gift tags, which I'm am going to keep in this jar! So do expect to see that jar fill up as the year progresses, and it is going to be so much fun, as of course I plan to make a nice assortment.

And best of all, no matter what time of year, I'll always have a way to add a little note or label to something that gets sent out the door to friends and neighbors! Oh and of course, these little tags are so simple to make, keep reading for the how-to......