creative jewish mom

Quilled Paper Bonfire Craft For Lag B'Omer

I have pulled this one out of the archives, yet again, because it is truly simple with great results, and right about NOW would be the time to make one, or a few! I had thought of doing this craft with my 6th grade craft students, but a colorful cardboard tube bonfire won out, so maybe next year!

Call it a quilled paper campfire, or call it a quilled paper bonfire, either way it is a fun craft for all ages and requires only very simple supplies. The wonderful Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer is coming up on the night of May 2nd, so now is the time to start thinking about some simple crafts to celebrate. The bonfire is one of the major symbols of the holiday (and kids in my neighborhood are now hoarding wood of all kinds to contribute to bonfires around town) and as it turns out quilling with orange and yellow paper is a great way to depict fire! So whether you will be celebrating Lag B'Omer or are looking for an artful summer craft, this quilled paper campfire or bonfire is perfect.

Ready to get rolling? (Got it, a quilling joke....) Let's do it.......

Recycled Cardboard Tube Logs For Play Or Crafting!

With the festive Jewish holiday coming up in just a week, now is the time to get crafting, that certainly is happening around here on account of my 20 or so 4th, 5th and 6th grade (boys) students, who are keeping me literally on my toes! Last week we worked on drawing woodgrain patterns on colored paper, which was very fun and successful for some, and very challenging and not so enjoyable for others, and there were many surprises on my part regarding for whom it was a challenge. This week, we used those drawings to make colorful and fun logs for a Lag B'Omer bonfire, using all kinds of cardboard tubes that I've been saving. The results are just fabulous, and they would be great as is as toys used together with wooden blocks or kapla or any creative toy, so I may just have to make a set with that in mind! But for now we are firing up the glue gun and making bonfires! Okay, lets do it!

DIY Scrapbook Paper Placemats - Elegant and Quick!

This year, right before Passover, I all of a sudden has a great need for some new vintage style dishes, which is very unlike me, as I've been using white Corelle-like dishes on my shabbat table for years, with a marbled pink glass first course plate which I was very happy with. Mind you both the dinner plate and the first course plate both cost 5 shekels ($1.25 each!) and I loved the idea of not having to worry about any precious China. But then the need for something new altogether arose, and miracle of miracles I found the pattern I was looking for, for sale in Israel, and half the price of the same item on Ali Express! (I now understand that apparently floral vintage style dishware is all the rage, and so the prices have been doubled in many cases, yikes! Always price check items using google images, also a great way to find where a certain item or something like it is sold.)

While I ordered the dishes the week leading up to Passover, DHL came through and they were delivered just in time to use them for the most important night of the year, the Passover Seder! I'll admit I wasn't sure if I'd made the right decision with the dishes as while not fine China they certainly were more pricey than something mid-range from Ikea for example. And they didn't quite have the vintage look I had hoped for, being whiter than in the photo on the store's website, but truthfully as is they are likely a better fit with the rest of my tableware. That said, when I went to set the table for the Passover Seder, on the Thursday before Passover, the plates did not look all that great on the table, something was missing and to my eye they looked too small, yikes! Keep on reading to the hear the end of the story.......

Simple Origami Pears Craft For Tu B'Shevat

The festive Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat, The Jewish New Year for Fruit Bearing Trees, is coming up on Wednesday night, so now is THE time to get crafting! And while you might like to fill up your table with a vast array of wonderful fruits and nuts to honor the holiday, why not make some paper fruit that will add a festive touch, are quite quick to make and won't go bad in the fridge! Plus this one is something that kids as young as 7 or 8 years old can do, and when done in an array of colors, well you can have a whole array of paper fruit as well. The difference between this pear origami craft and the origami apples I've been making even in huge sizes is simply a fold on an angle versus a straight fold, so if you know how to make an origami balloon, this pear is just a slight tweak, so let's get to it!

Origami Cherries And Strawberries For Tu B'Shevat!

This craft is just so adorable and so very simple! I've been making these cherries with my crafting students and even children as young as 7 or 8 can easily fold the origami balloon that is needed. And while we've used the idea to make cherries here, you can make just about any fruit using this idea, just change the color of the paper! And if you want to make something that is a bit more pear shaped, to use in one direction as a pear, and another direction as an apple, check out my tutorial coming soon. In the meantime, make square origami fruit and fill up a basket!

DIY Paper Candle Chanukah Menorah Craft

If you are looking for a great craft to whip up now for the last two nights of Chanukah, this is the one! And best of all, the candles are so simple to save for next year! I actually made these paper candles last year for my recycled liquor bottle candlestick table-scape, and this year I realized I could use them to make a fun Chanukah Menorah (Chanukiah) and truly it is so very festive, and really caught the eye of my 4th grade crafting students! And of course, these candles can be used for so many festive occasions, so they are great to have on hand. Okay, lets do it!

Origami Stars And Dreidels Chanukah Garland Craft

I'm so very proud of this ten year old student of mine, who came up with his own great ideas for how to decorate the origami Jewish stars and origami dreidels that we made over the course of a few weeks in the after schooling crafting studio I've been running. While the origami dreidel is simple to fold, and I just love how he nested one on top of the other, the origami Jewish star is a bit of a challenge and so I didn't even try it with the younger boys, hopefully next year! So friends, with Chanukah coming up on Wednesday night, now is the time to get crafting and/or to plan some fun craft activities to do during the holiday as well! Some origami paper and a simple origami book makes a great gift, even for yourself, so dive in and enjoy!

Recycled Liquor Bottles With Festive Paper Candles Craft

Pulling this out of the archives from last year as it is truly a keeper, and looks amazing as a centerpiece, the more the better!

Here is what I wrote just a year ago, though seems like so much longer: It is true, I made these recycled liquor bottle candesticks for a Chanukah party that was held last night, but truthfully they are so universal they can be used for any festive occasion and any time that you want the look of candles without the safety concerns! And of course you could go for paper candles that are metallic silver or gold and maybe make the flame a bit less crafty looking and then even use them for a fancyish party outdoors where real candles wouldn't work, or for a feast in the forest where flames would be dangerous? And friends, whether or not you partake in liquor of any kind, there are certainly many ways to get your hands on some amazing bottles to recycle! These happen to be bottles from my son's wedding two weeks ago, and the 12 year old brother of the bride collected all the bottles for me having seen a previous craft project.....so sweet of him and glad I didn't listen to the husband who said we didn't have room in the trunk!

Now these candlestick bottles will make great decorations as well as centerpieces for our long shabbat table next week, I'm actually really excited to put "candles" on the table that I can then move when we clean up, on shabbat we don't light fire or touch it, so while I could make a long centerpiece with real lit candles it would be quite impractical and dangerous as the guests pass all those Moroccan salads around!

Okay, sold? Lets make some great looking recycled glass bottle candlesticks.......

Simple Chanukah Craft For All Ages: An Origami Dreidel Garland!

The festive holiday of Chanukah is quickly approaching, so now is a great time to get out the colored paper and a glue stick, and get crafting! The origami dreidels are truly simple to fold, even for kids as young as 7 or 8, and decorating them with bits of paper brings them to life! So make a bunch in a range of sizes, or all the same size if you must, but regardless, get crafting! This garland was actually made by a very exacting 9 year old boy, in my 4th graders after school craft class, and last night when I added an extra class in order to assemble and finish a few crafts to take home for Chanukah, he just had to make a few more dreidels to complete his garland, just too sweet! The fun thing about these dreidels is that if you want a dreidel with a longer stem (?) you can use regular letter sized or A4 paper, which also results in a large dreidel, which can be used as a base, or as a central element on a garland. Okay, lets do it!

Simple Origami Dreidel Craft For Hanukkah!

Friends, it is time to get crafting for Chanukah, and I recommend this festive and simple origami dreidel craft, it is truly wonderful! While I made these, my 8 year old plus boy crafting students made and decorated these with ease! And of course if neutral colors are more up your alley, so make them from brown kraft paper (not to self!) or metallic paper. However you choose to make them, make a bunch and get decorating, the simplest thing being to clip them onto a string with mini clothes pins, either hung horizontally or vertically, and voila the house is already starting to look like Chanukah! Ready, lets get to it!