creative jewish mom

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! With the very crafty Jewish holiday of Purim coming up in less than a month, now is THE time to start thinking about costumes (no longer a reality in our home with teens who would rather buy a scary mask.....) whether for your own children or the kids in your life who could use some of your creativity! And of course the Purim tradition of giving gifts of food is also a great arena for creativity, so get those creative gears turning! With my kids no longer needing gifts for teachers or costumes the holiday has become significantly less hectic I must say. Last year I did make two costumes, but the recipients of those have now moved several hours away and I don't think I'll be volunteering my services long distance as that seems like a bit too much given my busy schedule. Instead I'll concentrate on making some new crafts for the blog and that book that has yet to get underway. Ah yes, and the assortment of Moroccan salads that I made for all the neighbors last year was such a hit I think I will just hit the repeat button! First I still need to learn how to use my new camera so I can photograph all the Chanukah decorations (posing as winter decorations) still hanging out.......sigh. Making the crafts is much more pleasurable than photographing them, but since I don't have a photographer by my side, that photographer is just going to have to be me! 

With warmer temps in the area, and some almond trees now blooming, spring is quickly approaching, and that means wake-up time and lots of new creative possibilities! So lets start by taking a look at the features from last week's party!

A Swedish Farm Bakehouse In Albo Becomes A Lovely Vacation Rental

This lovely historic bakehouse that goes with the classic Swedish farmhouse I recently shared, was truly an amazing place to spend three nights. Just look at that lovely porch, and ahhh, the peaceful location, we really lucked out on this one, and while we had so many amazing experiences in Sweden, this was one of my favorites! Truthfully, the rental cottage is close to the main farmhouse where the owners live, but they were away for part of the weekend, and turned out to be really lovely folks, so it was amazing all around. My photos of the interior didn't turn out well, but just know that the living room of the rental is the place where the old stove still sits, as well as a very long pole hung from the ceiling used for drying the big rounds of Wasa style Swedish crackers, so fun! There are many many historic cottages that one can rent is Sweden to enjoy the short summer (July and August) though we chose to rent places with running water and sewage, since husband did not like the idea of an outhouse.......maybe next time? 50% of all Swedes have access to a summer cottage, where on government owned land or land they own, so lets just say, there are many many cottages to rent now that many folks spend much of their vacation traveling. Speaking of which all Swedes get 5 or 6 weeks of summer vacation, truly amazing and a great reason to live there if you ask me. Of course you'll have to pay for that vacation by weathering the long dark winter, but it may just be worth it? Okay, lets take a closer look at this sweet cottage with a distant view of the Dalalven river.

A Classic Swedish Farmhouse In Albo, Sweden

Wow, it has been nearly two whole months since I last shared my travel photos, and specifically from our amazing 2 1/2 weeks in Sweden this past summer. (You can see all the previous posts here.) Time is just flying by, though I buckled down and went through the remaining photos from our Swedish adventure to share with you, as after that I have to share a visit to The Vessel in Manhattan, our family reunion in Boston, USA and Cape Cod, and after that Prague! 2019 was a year packed with travel, and I am very blessed to have had the opportunity to see family across the seas, and really stuff myself to the gills with inspiration!

I have to say I have finally realized that now that the kids are teens we must start taking advantage of the proximity of Israel to Europe, not to mention really cheap fares if one plans ahead! I do hear Sweden calling my name once again.......In the meantime, here is a truly lovely Swedish farmhouse in the Gavle region in a little town called Albo, on the banks of the Dalalven river, not far from another little city with a grocery store called Nara. This was our second to last stop in Sweden and really really lovely, with gorgeous walks to the river and beautiful farm land and farm buildings to boot. Come along with me and take  look.....

DIY Stand-Up Cardboard Polar Bear Centerpiece

Looking for a fun winter-themed centerpiece to whip up for an upcoming birthday party or winter themed celebration? Give this DIY cardboard stand-up polar bear a try, and you'll put smiles on every face! Of course, you can make this polar bear any size that suits your table, but if you go big, well that certainly fills more space and makes more of a statement— more bang for the buck if you will! While you can certainly make a whole family of polar bears in different sizes, which could be just adorable, you can also choose to make some cardboard huskies, which is also super adorable and a great contrast is size: namely little dog meets huge polar bear! Both of these animals are courtesy of Mr. Printables, and I've been wanting to make them for years. Fortunately I at last found an excuse: our winter/snow themed Chanukah birthday party, yippee! Keep on reading for some tips and more photos.

DIY Stand-Up Cardboard Huskies For Your Winter Table

At long last I have finally found the time to share with you one of the favorite crafts I made for our family Chanukah birthday party: stand-up cardboard huskies, courtesy of Mr. Printables! And at the birthday party when the huskies made their debut, they were actually pulling the birthday cake! Yes, that birthday cake with the sparkly red flags that I shared a while back. (Note to self and everyone else: try to have everything ready the day before, even the cake, so you'll have time to photograph it all nicely!) Now it is too late to photograph the huskies pulling the cake and I do have a photo that is nice enough for the family photo album, but not quite nice enough for this blog. So maybe I'll just have to do it again next year? The good news is that these adorable recycled cardboard box huskies come apart and can be stored flat, so saving them is certainly a must, and they truly are adorable, so we may just have to use them through out the year as well! Okay, lets take a closer look and learn how to make them!

Welome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! With lots more rain having fallen in Northern Israel this shabbat, things are looking good indeed as far as our water supply goes. Sunday night we celebrate the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat, which celebrates the new year for the fruit bearing trees. Spiritually it is about waking from our slumber just as the trees do in the middle of the winter here in Israel. The first tree to bloom is the almond tree, and I'm hoping that all that rain didn't damage the tiny blooms, will have to venture out and see.......Wishing everyone a happy Tu B'Shevat, in which we buy as many kinds of fruit (that grow on trees) as we can and enjoy. Don't forget the nuts as well! And now for the features from last week's party, enjoy!

Recycling Crafts For Feeding The Birds On Shabbat Shira

This Shabbat is "Shabbat Shira" in which we celebrate the birds! While for many, this special shabbat is only acknowledged when reading the weekly Torah portion on Shabbat morning, most young school kids certainly do something in school tp bring home for shabbat, which reminds the parents! With no young school kids in the house, well, you'll forgive me for almost omitting to post about this special day, right? Crafts, or no crafts, we of course always remember to put out food for the birds before shabbat.

The Shabbat that falls before or on Tu B'shevat (a minor Jewish festival celebrating fruit baring trees) is called Shabbat Shira, because the week’s parashah [weekly Torah reading], B’shalach, includes Shirat HaYam, the song the Israelites sang after they crossed the Red Sea. Now, the birds sang as the Jewish people crossed the Red Sea, so we thank them this shabbos! (That is the simple explanation, there are of course several others.)

Of course, my archives are busting at the seams with crafts for all jewish holidays, and I do have a category called Holiday: Shabbat Shira, so you can certainly check that out. Since you are here, keep on reading for my little roundup of great bird feeder recycling crafts, mine and a few from around the web.

Pine Cone Fruit Orchard Craft Is PERFECT For Tu B'Shevat!

This pine cone fruit tree orchard craft (hanging out in my archives with so many other great projects) is just as cute as can be and perfect for Tu B'shebat, coming up on Feb. 9th, so enjoy!

Collecting pine cones on a nature walk is always a fun activity to do with the little ones, but what to use them for afterwards? Here's a good one for you: make a pine cone orange orchard! This idea is so simple yet with great results and fun for a variety of ages. And maybe they'll even take the time to make a popsicle stick shed for their orchard, and some little crates to fill up with oranges. That would be a good start to encourage creative activities rather than anything with batteries or that plugs into a wall, right? And of course if you want to get particularly crafty, how about making a plan to build an entire farm, or little town with all the usual amenities, just from simple supplies like these?

Orange And Cloves Pomanders For Tu B'Shevat

It has been TEN! eight years (gasp) since I actually made these great looking orange and cloves pomanders, but they are still looking good, so I figured I'd dust off this project and share it with you once again. I have come to realize that bringing things out of the archives to see the light of day isn't such a bad idea, especially since most people don't go fishing around in there!

You may not have time to actually make some of these pomanders before ushering the Jewish holiday of Tu B'shebat, Sunday night, but they would be a great craft activity to do on the holiday itself. I have come up with a great way to make these so that even those who aren't so crafty can succeed.....and of course the fragrance that goes with this activity is just lovely, so go for it!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, and thanks so much for joining me here! The Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat, the new year for the fruit bearing trees, is coming up next Sunday night, February 9th, so it is time for all tree and fruit related crafts! I'll admit, the Chanukah decorations are still up, so time to get to work! I'm going to leave all the garlands of white pom poms (snowballs) and even the glittery snowflakes made from berry baskets, and simply add some pink blossoms, some giant origami apples and some toilet paper tube trees with mini pom pom flowers. And I need to do all this by Wednesday as my home is being used as a venue for a high school student "get to know Israel" program and certainly they'll wonder about my sanity if the house says Chanukah! Last week's party was filled with great inspiration, and for me the one thing that made my heart sing the most was the mosaic birds.......so sweet and prompt to use up all those boxes of broken ceramics I've been saving for something like this! Okay, lets get this party started!