creative jewish mom

How To Make Homemade Jewelry With Your Kids

Creating homemade jewelry with children is both a fun activity and a great opportunity to cultivate creativity, improve fine motor skills, and strengthen family bonds. Engaging in arts and crafts allows children to explore their artistic sides while learning basic skills in design and construction. Furthermore, the pride in creating something by hand can boost a child's self-esteem and encourage a more profound appreciation for handmade items. With beaded friendship bracelets now all the rage, your teens might like to join in the fun too! If you would like to make DIY jewelry with your kids of all ages, read on for great tips and info to make the experience a winner!

Origami Jumping Frogs Passover Seder Craft

Dusting this one off once again, because it is truly a good one, and hoping I might squeeze a bunch in myself? Interesting to see what i wrote two years ago, and yes, once again the studio is a major eye sore, but partially because the painters did a job that needs re-doing, and made a huge mess, so now I'm lagging behind, and so it goes! Happy Passover prep!

With the Jewish holiday of Passover arriving on Saturday night, ready or not, now might be the time to spend just a few minutes making a cute craft to grace your Passover seder table? I'll admit, despite high hopes of totally cleaning out my studio, I am exhausted right now and will settle for almost organized, not including cabinets! And of course there are other areas in the house that need attention, not to mention the container garden, though I don't think I'll get to that before the holiday, we have been having huge rain and dust storms for two days! As far as that studio of mine, it will never organize itself, so I'd better finish this post! Passover is the holiday is which we not only remember our deliverance from slavery historically, but also work on not being slaves to things in our lives today, in my case all the stuff!

This origami frog craft is a perfect last minute craft, which I posted last year around this time as well, but you can never have anough frogs at the Passover seder! Enough babble, enjoy this origami frog craft that I did 8 years ago! You can find the complete instructions here.

And wishing you lots of energy to finish up all the preparations, and then enjoy!

Cleaning Product Art For Passover To Make It Fun?

I have to admit, these cleaning product pieces, which are a part of my Daily Object series, sure are fun! Hmmm, maybe if I look at them long enough I can convince myself that the deep cleaning of the kitchen that I need to be right now is fun? Sure why not? So draw some cleaning products and color them in, and then get to work friends, time is of the essence. Ah yes, and of course you could download some clip art of cleaning products for the little ones to color in, and then get them to cut them out and make a wall hanging, garland, mobile or you name it. And then ask them to make one for all the neighbors in order to keep them busy, and some more for next year as well? Happy Passover prep, whatever that may mean for you!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks for joining me here! With just a little over a week until the Passover Seder (only one in Israel, phew!) and seven days (eight outside Israel) of holiday, things are starting to look like the holiday, which means clean and de-cluttered so that we can truly feel as free as possible! With lots of painting and repairs going on in our home, things aren't quite ready, but everything will be ready, possibly with the exception of my studio because it will be painted last and all the contents are in the center of the room waiting to be organized, likely after Passover, and so it goes. Wish there were more time for crafting, and may squeeze in a few crafts for young guests, time will tell! Okay, enjoy the features from last week's party!

Tailored to Perfection: Selecting Fabrics for Different Projects

Any seasoned sewer will tell you that selecting the appropriate fabric is crucial for ensuring that every sewing project turns out perfectly. While certain textiles can be used for a variety of uses, most are ideally suited for specific projects.    

 

What makes one type of fabric different from another? The fibers that make up fabrics can be natural or synthetic, and some fabrics combine natural and synthetic fibers. Additionally, the weight, make-up, and thread count of a fabric are all factors that determine whether a fabric is better suited for upholstery, dressmaking, quilting, or embroidery. Lets learn more about what to consider when choosing fabrics, and get it right every time.

Origami Pyramids For Passover Craft

Dusting this one off from the archives as it is truly a good one! Make pyramids in any color scheme or even from drawings or paintings your kids have made.....so many ways to go with this one! And I just realized that one could also fold paper napkins into pyramids? Here is what I wrote previously:

Passover is around the corner, and now is the time to start thinking about how to make your holiday meaningful for the whole family. The telling of the Passover story via the Passover seder is first and foremost in order to pass on the tradition ot our children, so a fun Passover table is a must for creating great memories! Origami pyramids in all sizes can look great on any table, just use colors or patterned papers that will match your table, be it super elegant (go for metallics) or modern (go for brights.) Once you get the hang of making these simple pyramids, you can make a whole bunch to march them down the table. And maybe even keep it a surprise until you set the table, they can be stored flat until then!

I made these colorful versions four years ago, but am now revisiting this idea myself as my kids are interested in origami these days, and so am I. I'm thinking about trying these in large sizes, wouldn't it be great to have some to put on the floor around the table? Kids could certainly use them to re-enact the Passover story, right?

Ten Plagues Placards Craft For Passover

Reposting this one once again, as it is something one could do right now, and bring great joy in a little over a week at the Passover seder. This is what I wrote last year:

A reader just asked me about this craft, and I revisited it, and i see that it has actually been five years since I've shared it and almost 12 or 13 years since I actually made it. Wow, it must be time to make it again! Okay, maybe next year, in the mean time, there are plenty of days before Passover to get crafting, or keep the family busy with crafts, and this one is a keeper. Here is what I wrote in 2018:

I made these ten plagues placards for my kids for our seder eight whole years ago, and since they are still looking good (in the photos that is) I thought I'd pull them out of the archives to share them with you, as truly this a craft that will make memories for the kids (and fun loving adults) at your Passover seder table! Truthfully, while I love these ten plagues placards, they are on the large size and so I did a smaller version of this craft with some of the neighborhood boys, using skewers instead of dowels, and you can take a look at that craft here. Regardless of what size works for your family, do take the time to make some of these ten plagues placards, you won't regret it, promise!

In the photo above, from left to right I have depicted the first four plagues: Blood, Frogs, Lice, and Wild Animals. Keep on reading to see most of the other plagues.......

Ten Plagues Passover Card Craft

With the Passover seder and the wonderful week-long holiday of Passover quickly approaching, now is a great time to get out a craft to keep the kids busy, and help them create something fun for the Passover seder, or to decorate your home. Introducing Ten Plagues Cards that you can use in so many ways! I have plans to make milk carton frogs, and with these cards to make ten plagues placards (affixing each card to a wooden skewer) for 3 young children. Since I need three sets, after I add color to these illustrations I'm planning on making copies, since in any case these works are a part of my ongoing Daily Object series that you can see on instagram at @sara.rivka.dahan

So, draw images that represent the ten plagues, in my case including a lice comb for lice, and a pint of blood for blood, and footprints for wild animals, and get creative! You can also choose to make copies and give those to the kids to color, or even better, give kids cards and maybe or maybe not, some inspiration, and let them draw the symbols themselves, the best idea of all!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks for joining me here! With Passover cleaning well under way given that there are just two more weeks until we need to be 100% ready, things are at the point of looking worse rather than better, which is par for the course when basically using the Passover prep as a yearly excuse to clean out all the cabinets and closets in the house! Maybe just maybe this year I'll be able to part with a few more things that I'm really not using and/or can always collect again, namely recyclables! The good/bad news in the kitchen is that I need a new oven/stovetop which means we don't have to clean it, and we will have a nice brand new appliance to use for Passover, just this once. The daughter, who loves to bake will be thrilled, and truthfully it will make all the cooking/baking so much easier, especially since I have a 90cm oven with 5 burners, all the better to bake all those challahs, well except not on Passover of course, we only eat matzo! Okay, lets take a look at the features from last week's party!

Dorm Room Design: Transforming an Average Box Into A Home Away From Home

As we clean and organize our homes for Passover, before you get rid of everything, keep in mind dorm room needs for your kids or even friend's and neighbor's kids. Running out to buy everything new can be so very wasteful when you might have some great pieces in your home, waiting to spruce up a dorm room!

"Dorm room." For many, this term conjures images of stark cinder-block walls, mismatched furniture and thin, scratchy carpet. But don't despair: dorm rooms don't need to be boring boxes you endure for up to four years; instead they can serve as vibrant expressions of personality, an incubator of creative expression and feel more like home than ever. This may just be the chance to unleash your inner decorator, so lets get started!