creative jewish mom

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, and thanks so much for joining me here! After a very festive Purim holiday, and the big clean up afterwards, Passover and all the big spring cleaning is now very much a reality. The only problem is that everyone is understandably caught up in the Corona virus happenings. For those of use who love creativity, enforced time at home isn't a huge worry, but of course world health certainly is. I am happy to say that the Israeli government is taking extreme measures to curtail any spread of the virus by enforcing a new set of very strict rules, especially regarding school (school and university cancelled for the next month) though we have yet to hear that my daughter's high school is cancelled. All those entering Israel now must do two weeks of mandatory quarantine, which takes place either at home or another location. That in itself is a great relief. We know that the virus will likely reach our Northern Israel mountaintop location, the main question is how to keep it from coming too quickly. So far with only 146 cases in Israel and no deaths as far as I know, the extreme measures will hopefully spare us as much as possible from great distress.

Okay, enough for the news, lets delve into some creative inspiration, which can certainly bring much needed joy into the world!

Bird Themed Paper Decorations For A Play, A Party Or Just Because!

The Jewish holiday of Purim starts tonight for most of the world, while in Jerusalem it starts on Tuesday night. Most of us are likely too busy with preparing food and gifts for the holiday, but the folks in Jerusalem might still have time to decorate an entire wall with a fun bird themed installation? I actually still need to figure out how to hang the origami birds in my own home, having created these decorations for a community party last week, and gotta do it before we set up the long banquet table for our 32 (invited, many will drop by) guests! So dear friends, I am rushing to get started on the preparations, but after sharing with you the paper peacock, the accordian fold flower, the origami pheasant and the origami partridge, I figured it was time to show you how all the elements were hung! I'll admit, I did this without an actual plan but am happy with how it all came together. Just enough elements to make it work, and varying the color background also brings lots of interest, so make sure to do that! Okay, here is the big reveal.......Ah yes, this was created to cover large partitions that stood on either side of a makeshift stage, to hide the sound system and actors changing, so a stage set of sorts!

Giant Origami Pheasant Party Decor Or Stage Set!

If you are creating a giant origami stage set, or perhaps a wall filled with origami party decorations, you may like this giant origami pheasant, with a crown, as he makes a great friend for the giant origami partridge or even the paper peacock! I grew up making origami as a child, and as a mother needing party decorations for my kids realized that origami could also work using the largest paper I could find, generally wrapping paper! And the creative part about origami is that you create an environment for your origami, or add pattern to the origami pieces themselves. Either way, give it a try, plus it is great for your brain to try and figure out the instructions!

Giant Origami Partridge With A Crown!

I love origami, and especially giant origami, as why not put all that effort into something that in itself makes great party decor? I have made giant origami clowns, and giraffes in the past, and now I am adding a giant origami partridge to the list. I didn't really have time to make the partridge as it is supposed to be made (instructions follow) but making up your own version is just fine as well, after all, origami is an artistic representation, which makes it that much more amazing! I made these origami birds to hang as part of a set decoration for a Purim party, and now I'm about to hang them in our home as Purim is in two days.....if I have any leftover time, not likely as I have 32 or so currently sitting for our Purim meal, I'll whip up a few more origami birds to make everyone smile! Okay, lets make some!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! Tuesday night is the very festive holiday of Purim, and I fortunately was able to take the decorations I made for our women's party and use them at home, yippee! That means a bit less pressure, or more time to whip up delicious food for hosting those 25 people? Of course that is just the number of folks we've invited, there will be many more dropping by all afternoon. For Purim we also give gifts of food, and I'll be repeating last year's effort with a nice selection of Morocannish salads, which everyone enjoyed. Of course I need to put together about 20 of these packages, so that takes time as well. Fortunately I've already made huge quantities of pickled lemon, and roasted red peppers, and the eggplant is roasted as well. These things keep well in the freezer, and while my oven is not working I currently have a huge tray of beets roasting in my neighbor's oven, to make beet chummous, yum. That together with some olives, a mix of pickled veggies or maybe eggplant cubes and some couscous rounds out the selection. Now I need to come up with a cute gift tag, maybe I'll take my own advice and make some fish? With no time to craft myself (other than those tags) at the moment, I am really enjoying the features from last week's party, so lets take a look:

How To Incorporate Contemporary Design Into Your Home

When we think about our homes and what role they play in our busy lives, most folks would likely say that they want their home to be a refuge or retreat from the busy world. Others might see their home as a gathering place or most likely a combination of a place to relax and entertain. Regardless of your personal goals for your home, those goals can be greatly enhanced with your design choices! The wonderful thing about "design" as opposed to "decoration" is that design is about looks and function while decoration is purely decorative. Most of us don't live in palaces that can afford to have spaces that are purely decorative, so thinking about design is crucial when it comes to making your house into the home of your dreams.

Since this article is about the pluses of contemporary design, obviously I am steering you in that direction, but let me explain why. Once folks lived in dwellings where keeping the home either cool or warm was the priority. Heat was generated with a wood burning stove or fireplace, coolness was obtained with thick walls and very small windows generally. Even those who lived in large homes did not have huge windows, as glass technology did not exist, nor did the idea of a non-baring window wall allowing glass from floor to ceiling. Do you see where I'm heading with this? Contemporary home design was developed together with contemporary architecture, and when designers/architects started developing ideas that focused on light and space and function a whole new way of living was born. Meaning houses could finally be used for much more than just surviving, because streamlining the furnishings means more room to live! And I must say, I am so very grateful to those original pioneers, as while I have been know to comb flea markets for my vintage everything collection, I truly love modern design as well.

Keeping all of the above in mind, lets take a look at some of the factors to consider when choosing a design direction for your home. And yes, dear readers, choose a direction, and even make an inspiration board, it will serve you well and help you from getting distracted by all the choices out there! You may want to learn about the history of modern design, which I highly recommend as it will make your choices that much more informed!

Super Quick Paper Lanterns That Can Light Up!

This year my Purim decorations are all about the quick factor, as with the festive holiday just around the corner, in addition to many guests and food prep, quick is all there is really time for. Ah yes, and the truth is that the decorations I will hang in my house were mostly made for our community Purim party which already took place, so that is a huge help at this point. So where does the need for quick come into play? Well, for that Purim party on Sunday night I had only Saturday night to make the decorations and about 1 1/2 hours to hang them, just before the party. I've already shared with you my giant paper peacock, and simple cut paper floral garland, so in keeping with that loose garden theme, I now present paper lanterns! And mind you not just any paper lanterns, but rather those that employ a technique that I came up with on that very late Saturday night, and I just realized allows one to add a battery powered candle, which would be amazing. Okay, lets do it!

Giant DIY Accordian Fold Paper Flowers

If you ever need some great looking paper wall decorations, and you are just not sure what to make, give this giant accordian fold flower a try, and you'll want to make enough to fill the entire wall. It is true, one can buy manufactured accordian fold flowers that are similar, but there is nothing quite like the look of something handmade, right? Plus you'll be able to customize yours in so many ways depending on the paper you choose! And if you really want to get creative, how about taping together a bunch of magazine or catalog pages and using those? Or even paint or stamp patterns onto your paper before you create the giant flower. Okay, lets learn how to make this beauty, shall we?

How To Cut Simple Floral Shapes From Paper To Make A Party Garland In MInutes!

While I don't love creating under pressure, it is true that some of my best work has come to light in just that way. I now introduce to you a new idea on the roster that we'll call Matisse inspired cut paper shapes party garland! You can whip this paper party garland up in mere minutes, assuming you've got scissors and the right paper on hand! Picture this: with the party guests arriving in less than fiveteen minutes I still had an empty stretch of string running between two columns and in the center of the room.  Yikes! This was exactly the scene on Sunday night just before our community women's Purim party..... The giant paper peacocks and origami birds were up, with just this last area still bare, hmmm.

I am in charge of the decorations and I have accustomed the crowd to a creative effort each time, sooooooo, what to do? And then the idea struck, cut paper shapes to suggest flowers and leaves! The original theme that I had in mind was "colorful garden" and the other strings running overhead held paper lanterns, so this was an idea worth pulling off. Fortunately a friend was helping — I cut the shapes and she put them up, and the results were great! So happy to have another super quick party decor idea to pull out of  my sleeve, and I suggest you give this one a try, maybe in a relaxed fashion? Okay, lets get started, Purim is just around the corner, and these make fun Purim decorations to hang just about anywhere!

Simple Giant Paper Peacock Party Decor

A big huge PHEW — my late night efforts to assemble some decorations for our women's Purim party were mostly a success, and now I have a few things to share! While I had a colorful "gan eden" garden theme in mind, I actually only got as far as the birds for the garden, together with a few huge flowers. Fortunately that turned out to be enough as my original idea would have taken days to make and more time than I had to assemble, not to mention quite likely overkill. So first of all I'll share with you my giant paper peacock, which is just as cute as can be, can certainly stand alone, or be a part of a themed party, and most of all is so simple to make! This peacock was a part of a scene of sorts covering some room divider panels placed on either side of a stage space to hide the actors and the audio equipment. I'll be sharing all the elements with you over the next day or so, so stay tuned for that, but in the mean time, lets make a paper peacock!