creative jewish mom

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! Wow, July is here and yet we are still riding the never ending vacation wave, (while most schools opened up, it just so happens that both my daughter's school and my son's school did not) so the time warp continues. Two of my teens are in the nerve wracking process of applying to new schools for next year, schools that will likely take them to Jerusalem, a 3.5 hour bus ride away (waaah) though a close friend of mine just moved there and has a guest bedroom, so I think we will be making the trek to see our kids once a month or so, which means more adventures and inspiration. Maybe even a street sketching practice? My sketchbook practice has been amazing, and even a bit addictive, I'll admit, but hey I know it is leading me somewhere, so I am going along for the ride, and in the meantime, enjoying the journey.

Speaking of journey, the Jewish people have been on a journey for thousands of years, and we continue to acknowledge/mourn and celebrate important events in our history that occurred long ago. This coming Wednesday night is the 17th of Tammuz, a minor fast day and the beginning of a 3 week mourning period for the Holy Temple's destruction that culminates on the major fast day of T'isha B'Av, when the Temple was destroyed. So, I have included crafts for this period in the carousel at the top of my blog, and now realize that with all the simple drawing I've been doing it is time to draw Jerusalem! Making your art practice relevant to your life takes it one step further, so give that some thought and enjoy the features from last week's party:

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, I hope everyone is well and finding time for creativity, ah yes, and thanks for joining me here! June is almost over, yikes, and I did not accomplish my goal of learning to use Procreate, but hopefully will make myself start on that this coming week. Last November ordered an apple pencil and an ipad to get the ball rolling, and my daughter did start to delve into the world of digital illustration, but I have yet to do that, sigh. Using Procreate could help me in soooooo many ways, mostly in getting together some of those book ideas that are simmering so long they've nearly dried up? And of course my dreams of all things illustration-wise! But what about the art, ah yes that too, and such is the life of a creative mom with more ideas than time who is slowly learning to accept that everything has its time. And to make things even more difficult I just can't get along on the 3 or 4 hours of sleep that in the past was enough when trying to fit it all in, sigh. Soooo, here's to making the most of our time, finding pockets for creativity and most of all nurturing joy! Speaking of which, the features from last week's party are certainly joyful, especially those upcycled jean flowers and that crocheted flower necklace, both relatively small projects that pack a big punch, so lets take a look!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! It is hard to believe that we are more than half way through June, and this time warp shows no signs of letting up anytime soon. Summer travel plans are currently non-existent which is also really strange, as usually right about now I'm frantically looking for vacation rentals in our yearly family reunion destination. I guess it is time to put the time not spent on vacation planning into creativity! Lately I've been working hard at filling the pages in my sketchbook, and it has become such a great daily practice that I just can't believe it took me so many years to get over the fear of messing up in the sketchbook. Now I realize that there are many ways to correct mistakes, and am planning to write about that shortly, so stay tuned and do consider starting a sketchbook/art journal, you won't regret it, promise! If you are short on time, so do a page a day, and if you have a bit more time for creativity, delve into the great inspiration right here, from the features from last week's party.......enjoy!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! Summer is here, and that means hot days and fortunately generally cool nights here in our mountaintop location. While the surrounding fields and meadows are mostly gold with pops of purple thistles, my container garden is just getting started! This year I have planted morning glory from seed, as well as some cherry tomato seedlings, so I am very excited to see what grows over the next few months. Yes indeed, my teens are all still schooling from home, which has become the new normal and is keeping me extra busy. In the middle of it all, two of my kids are starting new schools next year and they both have their sights set on places that are very difficult to get into, so sigh, we are a bit on the edges of our chairs with that.......all the more reason to take nature walks and do lots of creative activities, right? Speaking of which, lets take a look at all the wonderful features from last week's party, more than enough for everyone to get inspired! Wishing everyone good health!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! Time is just flying by, and with my three teens still not back in school. Maybe it is because life is just much busier with day to day family obligations! With much of the country back in school there was a significant rise in new Coronoa cases, meaning some schools have shut down again, and my kids will not be returning in the near future. More time to fill them with good healthy food! There are so many projects and ideas that I'd love to delve into but just can't seem to get there, and I'm not sure why, sigh. Tonight rather than cooking and doing dishes I forced myself to do some sketching exercises in my sketchbook as a whole week has gone by with no actual drawing/painting etc. and hat feeling of I NEED to do something creative was gnawing at me, if you know what I mean? Yes, I did cut up a whole bunch of old candles this week, and yes I did spend a full day designing a wedding invitation for an upcoming wedding in which two old friends are marrying their kids to one another (wow!) but nothing beats drawing and painting, so hopefully next week I'll just have to find the time! And yes, I did go for an evening exercise nature walk four times this week, and yes today I did about four loads of laundry.......such is life!

With no major Jewish holiday is sight, I am thinking it is time to do "summer camp" crafting, so all that candle wax is gonna come in handy next week when I wrangle up my kids for a family activity! Okay, that is all for now, enjoy the features from last week's party!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! This past Friday and Saturday (shabbat) we celebrated the holiday of Shavuot back to back with Shabbat, so two days of family time, spiritual time (getting up at the crack of dawn on Shavuot for the customary prayer service, to receive the Torah) and some rest, phew we did it! My house is always filled with greenery due to a large collection of houseplants, but I gathered some of the plants around the dining room table to give an even greater feeling of greenery, and that together with my watercolor paper poppies created a really lovely and festive setting. Additionally a young neighbor who just got engaged asked me to take care of one of the houseplants she was gifted for her engagement, so of course I obliged as who can turn down another house plant, especially a large pathos with hormone induced huge leaves straight from the nursery and looking great? She isn't getting married for another six months, at which time I'll have taken quite a few cuttings from this plant before returning it to her with care instructions! Pathos, by the way, is a great plant for not so green thumbs as it is known to be one of the plants that is extremely understanding when not cared for properly. And just by the way, you can grow pathos cuttings in water, forever, and unless you totally forget to fill up the water, well, all is great. Pathos can even be grown in fish tanks, and I have my eye on a wall mounted fish bowl that I'd love to fill with pathos. Okay, enough about houseplants, which I do recommend as they bring life and every purer air into your home, lets take a look at the features from last week's party:

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, and thanks so much for joining me here! This week we have had a huge heat wave, which has been a bit exhausting, despite air conditioning! (I did see that in cities in Southern Israel the high was 107F, which is wow, HOT, so I'm grateful for or relative coolness.) I was not able to take my early evening nature walks as it was just too hot for any exercise, and really looking forward to resuming that next week hopefully when the temps cool down. Of course I really can not complain about the super hot weather as it does minimize the spread of Corona virus which is super important now that Israel is basically opening back up again......with rules of course, but school is back on for many, and stores are open. The weekly outdoor market (souk or shuk) in our town resumed this week, so for those who depend on shopping there for lower prices, (and just because it is a way of life) well phew.

I have been spending my creative time art journaling and sketching in my journal both of which are just soooo satisfying! And looking forward to hopefully getting into some painting soon. Would love to paint some flowers for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, coming up on Thursday night, but since that may not be realistic as done previously with acrylics, maybe some watercolor flower paintings is? Hmmm, stay tuned for that, but first my son has a birthday on Friday night, and with daughter taking care of a fancy cake I need to get cracking with the decorations, yikes! Okay, that is all for now, enjoy the features from last week's party!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, I hope everyone is well! Phew, here in Israel things are slowly getting back to normal, but we have heard that there may be a quarantine period in the Fall, which indeed sounds like a very good plan. My kids are all still home from school, so I'll try to treasure this time with them! Spring came late and now summer appears to have arrived early, with temps already in the 90's! The next Jewish holiday on the calendar is Shavuot, the day in which we receive the Torah every year, and in which we celebrate the giving of the Torah. Homes and synagogues are decorated with flowers and greenery, to remember the lush surroundings on Har Sinai, where the Torah was given. That is great inspiration for crafting, and we have about 2 weeks to get those gears moving, though right now I'm very busy with art journaling, and with no little ones around to wow with decorations, I think maybe I'll do some new flower paintings, or at the least decorate with some of the ones I've painted over the years. Shavuos is also a great excuse to buy some new houseplants, or fill some vases with cutting from friends, either way the idea is to go green. I am writing this on Friday morning, so with the kitchen calling my name, I'll just say, enjoy the features from last week's party and thanks for joining me here!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! Another week of what seems like eternal vacation here in Northern Israel, though my kids have started some school classes via phone, so the energy in he house has changed. Fortunately our city was spared any fatalities due to Corona virus and there were only 40 cases total, in our city of roughly 35,000. The hospital has closed its special ward and we are waiting to see what the health ministry decides, with very young school children possibly starting school again this week. And with the possiblity of my boys going back to sleep-away yeshiva in another week or two, I now have the mission to make this last period of time together productive and memorable. Not sure how memorable cleaning out the attic or painting my office might be, but those are 2 things on my list of to-dos! Then again, maybe I'll just continue with my own creative pursuits and see where that takes me! Speaking of creative pursuits, the features from last week's party are amazing as always, so get inspired and get creating!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! I hope everyone is well, and using this time to: delve deeper into working on relationships, get your parenting game in top shape, concentrate on self care, or spend time on creativity! Personally it feels like we are on a never-ending vacation, and while we have not even begun to do all the things on my to-do list, we are keeping busy as always. At long last I sprouted a bunch of beans this week (adjuki, mung, lentils and quinoa to boot) and husband even loved a stir fry I made with the adjuki beans last night, big win! I hope to post about my sprouting adventures, so if that interests you, stay tuned! (No glass jars used for sprouting......)

Another first was just before Passover after we cleaned out the container garden I planted some seeds in bare spots, and while I don't know if these seeds, purchased in the Ukraine for pennies will bring flowers, some of the morning glory seeds have sprouted, yippee! The wall once covered by beautiful climbing pink roses (the roses all had to be removed as the built in huge trough planter was possibly leaking into our storage room below) may just be the new home to blooming morning glory? The good news is that two of the white rose standards that I had been growing in that spot for 10 plus years have now been returned, and they look just as happy as can be, phew! I think keeping busy by checking off little tasks we'd always dreamed of doing is great, I have also started an art journaling project, which is taking me into new arenas altogether, and led me to using some bottles of colored permanent ink that I've had for a good 25 years! (You see, sometimes being a pack rat does pay off, my local art supply store only has blue and black ink. And I told my husband there may be hope as far as making a dent in all my art supplies.......though we'll have to start some silk painting as well!)

Okay, I am writing this on Friday morning and the kitchen is calling me to finish the shabbat cooking, so stay well, and keep those creative gears turning, because that is our secret for a joyful life, right? And now for the features from last week's party, enjoy.