creative jewish mom

DIY Simple Watercolor Butterflies Anyone Can Make!

If you love the look of watercolor butterflies with mixed media details and line work, then check out my doodle butterfly cutouts , though if you are looking for something just a bit simpler to make in quantities or as a craft to do with little ones, this simple watercolor butterfly cut-out craft might just be the one for you! I do love the calming look of these, and of course they would also be wonderful combined with the more detailed doodle detailed butterflies, if you so desire. And truthfully one big butterfly cut out from a page you've painted with watercolor clouds is oh so lovely, and maybe just the project to bring some joy into the world right about now. So take a look around for art that needs recycling, unfinished paintings that will never get finished or even some bits of paper that you can put to use by painting with simple watercolor patterns and then using for butterfly cutouts!

Watercolor Butterfly Cut-Outs For Collage, Art Journaling And Crafting

Now is a great time to paint loose watercolor butterflies and then add details with a fine line pen and some paint pens, and voila, some really great looking butterflies to use in so many ways are born! They'd be great as cake toppers, gift tags, collage elements, or as a wall hanging or mobile, the options are endless! While I plan to add antenae depending on how these butterflies will be used (if I use them in collage I'll draw the antennae, and if used as is I'll glue wire antennae to the back) you can decided what works for you, though of course cutting out very fine antennae is not recommended. What is recommended is to get out a bunch of watercolor paper, make some butterfly stencils of your own in a bunch of sizes, and make this a family project! LIttle ones can certainly enjoy adding color to the shapes using the wet on wet watercolor technique, and then even add details with tiny pom poms or other collage elements. Lets do it!

Watercolor Trees Cut-Outs For Crafting And Collage

Watercolor tree cut-outs are so wonderful to have on hand anytime for crafting, collage or art journals, ah yes or maybe even for a little gift tag? So friends, practice painting watercolor trees, improve their shapes a bit if need be when you cut them out, and then set aside to use in a million ways. A little garland would be very sweet in a child's room and of course you can always bring them out for Tu B'Shevat, or even glue wires or skewers to the back and use them as cake toppers, that could be amazing together with a few tiny woodland creatures! Look at photos of trees for reference, try to keep it loose and enjoy! My first trees looked more like feathers, so not to worry if it takes a while to arrive at something you like, just flip over the page and keep at it! I recommend going medium sized, maybe 6" tall or so for the first ones, and then if you arrive at some general shapes that you love, go bigger!

Trees are such a wonderful part of our world, and knowing how to paint them is a wonderful addition to your creative tool kit!

Watercolor Feather Cut-Outs For Art Journaling

There is something so very wonderful about watercolor feathers, and when you cut them out, wow! I am currently making a third watercolor art journal as a pre-wedding countdown gift, and have used many of the feathers shown here as collage elements. And when you consider that the feather is a writing tool, it is even more relevant in a journal of any kind, or as a greeting card. So friend, paint some watercolor feathers in many sizes and colors, and I'm quite sure you'll find wonderful ways to use them. I have made giant watercolor feathers as Jewish holiday decor, and have made wall hangings and mobiles with them. For my complete watercolor feather tutorial, click here.

Splatter Pomegranate Last Minute Rosh HaShana Card

Yes, the Jewish New Year, Rosh HaShana starts tomorrow night, but there is still time to squeeze in a few last minute Rosh HaShana cards, even if you don't give them until after the holiday, which is just fine too! The 10 days betweeen Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur is also a time when we continue to wish people a "Shanah tovah" and there is also a blessing about being "sealed in the book of life" so the feather together with the pomegranite, well, it is quite perfect, since the pomegranate is a symbol for Rosh HaShana!  And of course, you could also use feathers and pomegranates as succah decor, so the more the better! Need some tips to make you own? Keep on reading.......

Apple Card Rosh HaShana Jewish New Year's Cards

Reposting this from 3 years ago and silly me, just realized that of course my son's birthday is coming up again so time to make him a card, like right now! You on the other hand may have a few days?

One of my sweet sons has a 17th birthday tomorrow, just two days shy of Rosh HaShana, and this year, unlike previous years when the men and boys travel out of town for the holiday leaving us women to bask in the freedom of just being women, ahhhh, but never mind, that is not happening this year, or so it seems, which means that for the first time in about ten years I have the chance to make a proper birthday party for my son on his actual birthday! Not all the family will have arrived back home from their various schools, but at least I can decorate!

Just in time for my birthday decor needs, my friend Amanda Evanston posted a video on her Facebook page showing how to make some artful cakes, in preparation for the opening of her private Facebook group, (to let in another batch of members, which only happens twice a year) so check out the video here, and consider treating yourself to a membership in her Insider's Group, totally amazing, and the biggest comitment you'll need to make is for a month, so given all the videos now available there, nothing lost. This is not a paid post, just spreading good news about something that could really change your art game, if you are up for it!

Okay, back to Rosh HaShana apple cake and birthday cake, which could in fact be one and the same as Rosh HaShana is the world's birthday, at least on the Jewish calendar, but available for all to celebrate, so feel free to join in! There will be honey cake and apples dipped in honey and dates and pomegranites and carrots and beets and pumpkin and leek and maybe even a fish head if you are lucky. (I just mentioned the symbolic foods we eat on the holiday.....we also eat several course festive meals and everyone listens to the blowing of the shofar, this year on Sunday only.)

Once again, I am going off on a tangent and you might like to paint some festive apples or a birthday cake, right? Okay, let's do it........

Watercolor Hyacinth Cut-Outs Look Amazing Anytime Of Year

It is true, here in the Northern Hemisphere we don't usually think about hyacinths right about now, but in Australia now is the time! And truthfully, hyacinths are such amazing flowers, whether planted (which one should start thinking about now) or forced (which could start happening around November) so why not give it a try with some watercolors? I painted these hyacinths to use in a watercolor art journal that I'm making, and I just love the results. And friends, when you cut out your watercolor florals you can of course make the stems thinner and shape the flowers!

Watercolor Cut-Out Sea Animals Craft For Rosh HaShana!

Did you know that the fish is actually a aymbol for Rosh HaShana? (We want to be like the head of the fish, not the tail!) With that in mind, and the fact that we say the prayer of tashlich preferably next to a body of water with fish, why not make some sea life themed crafts this year? Keep everyone on their toes since they'll be expecting apples and pomegranates! (Though I'd make some of those too!) Here is what I wrote when I shared this as a Passover craft:

Need a perfect craft idea to keep the kids, in a range of ages, busy right about now? This is it my friends, make sea creature cut outs to use as Passover decorations, and the more the better! I'll be using these for table decor on Shevii Shel Pesach, the 7th night of Passover when we celebrate the crossing of the Red Sea, but they are certainly also appropriate all holiday long. Ah yes, and if you are looking for ocean themed birthday party decor, or sea themed birthday party decor, well this is perfect as well! These cute sea animal cut outs are perfect for garlands, mobiles, cake toppers, napkin rings, gift tags, and for a fun Passover centerpiece, that I'll be sharing shortly. Okay, ready to get started, time is of the essence!

A Recycled Wine Bottle Carrying Box Becomes A No-Pressure Canvas

A few weeks ago a shabbat guest brought us a bottle of wine, as many do, though rather than in a gift box, the bottle was in a carrying box made for two bottles. We have lots of guests, so I save lots of wine bags and even nice boxes, but this was the first box of its kind to find its way to me, and I just knew i had to paint it! After a few weeks painting on only paper I was just itching to do something lower pressure and just for fun, using left over paint from other paintings of course. And for a moment I thought I'd be tossing the box, in the end it all worked out and I actually love this litte painting on a wine box! Of course it did have many steps and sections got repainted entirely, but the lesson here is patience! And truthfully, just like watercolor paper, a box like this could sure take quite a few coats of paint, so if the first try fails, paint over it and start again! I'm not sure if I'll be using this as a gift box or not, (still need to finish the other side) but if I do I think I'll seal it with a coat of varnish. Then again, I think I need to hang onto it, as when the painted milk cartons come out again in the winter, I do believe this vase of flowers would be a nice addition!

Kid's Craft For The "Three Weeks" of Mourning Leading Up to The 9th of Av

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I have pulled this post from the archives, as it is still a keeper so many years later! This year I did not acknowledge the beginning of the solemn 3 week period, which started on July 6th, so making up for that now.......

Ten days ago, on July 6th, was the Jewish date of the 17th of Tammuz, a solemn fast day on the Jewish calendar which marks the beginning of a three week period of mourning for the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, (The Holy Temple/King Soloman's Temple.) Here is where the old post starts:

So with the boys home from school early, and my daughter just starting her summer vacation, there is no time like the present to try and get back into our crafting groove which I have missed greatly! So today I pulled out the watercolors, and grabbed a white corrugated cardboard box, and we all spent some time painting the stones of the kotel, and I just love the results!

Yes, my boys smirked when I told them to use bright and beautiful colors for the stones that they know as beige, but I explained to them that we were painting the stories that the stones had surely witnessed, and all the beautiful prayers whispered in front of these stones every day by countless individuals from both near and far.