creative jewish mom

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 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!

Orange And Cloves Pomander Craft

Today is the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat, and I'm posting this keeper of a craft once again just in case you might be looking to make something special to honor the holiday! Here is what I wrote when I took this out of the archives two years ago, enjoy!

It has been twelve years (gasp) since I actually made these great looking orange and cloves pomanders, but they are still looking good, so I figured I'd dust off this project and share it with you again. i have come to realize that bringing things out of the archives to see the light of day isn't such a bad idea, especially since most people don't go fishing around in there!

You do have time to actually make some of these pomanders before ushering in the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat and I have come up with a great way to make these so that even those who aren't so crafty can succeed.....and of course the fragrance that goes with this activity is just lovely, so go for it!

Pear Of Hearts Milk Carton Painting Craft

So friends, it turns out that painting tiny hearts on milk cartons can get a bit addictive as layer after layer is so very relaxing! That means more milk cartons filled with hearts to then turn into pear of hearts milk cartons, because the pear is created by blocking out the background with a solid color, leaving the pear shape filled with hearts, so very cute I must say! And yes I have outlined the pear with a paint pen, as it needs the definition, but that all depends on the colors you are using! The wonderful thing as always about painting on milk cartons is that is is low pressure, so you can just have fun, and you have 4 sides to get it right! And then, tada, the art stands up all by itself, which I just love, and you could fill them with tiny pebbles or sand to make book ends if you so desire. Okay, lets learn how to create something similar!

Plastic Bag Pom Pom Fruit Craft

I've been wanting to make fruit from plastic bag pom poms for a few good years now, and it finally happened, and I just love them. Now if only I had plastic bags in orange and yellow, well things would be even more festive. Plastic bag pom pom fruit can be great hung as a mobile in a child's room, used as party decor for a fruit themed party, or of course made to celebreate Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish new year for fruit bearing trees, which is why I made these! Right now I have plastic bag pom poms hanging over my dining room table, and while I had planned to add these to the mix it was looking a little bit too much like a child's room, so I've been displaying them elsewhere. That said they truly are adorable, and certainly something one can keep on hand to pull out in a pinch, I think they'd make great cake toppers as well. And come to think of it, how about making an adorable DIY baby mobile and gift it together with any number of popular baby items. Okay, lets make some plastic bag pom pom fruit, because truly the posibilties are endless!

Graffiti Hearts Milk Carton Craft

With the Jewish New Year for the trees, Tu B'Shevat coming up this Sunday night I thought I'd revamp some of my painted milk cartons to go with the new ones covered in hearts. I had almost forgotten how many graffiti hearts projects I've done, so it is a good thing there is an archives here to remind me! I have not painted in a while, so I've been covering milk cartons with layers and layers of hearts as a warm up, and it also turns out to be oh so relaxing and quite addicting! And best of all they are sure to put a smile on everyone's face, promise! So cover a milk carton in hearts, and another with whimsical blooming heart trees and enjoy!

Origami Apples Craft

Origami is one of my favorite crafts, whether actual traditional size, or giant size which I generally go for, so with the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat and all things fruit coming up in a few weeks, I thought I'd get started by trying out some origami apples that I've yet to tackle! The charming thing about these apples is that while one sided they are dimensional, and stand up on the page, unless you force them to be flat with glue, but why do that? Use them on a garland or wall hanging of some kind, and while you won't want to show off the back, it is nice that they have dimension!

Add some details with a paint pen, or not, and enjoy! No go make a bushel, here's how......

DIY Tree Of Life Wall Decor, For The Succah Or The Home!

today is Hoshana Raba, a very important and spiritual day during the Jewish holiday of succot, and for those of us in Israel, the last day in the Succah. So while I really want to be in the Succah right now, soaking it all up in all its glory, I'm popping in to share with you once again one of my favorite Succah decorations, and one in fact that lives year round on a wall in my kitchen, except during Succot! I made this from a real dead olive branch that I found on a walk in the meadows nearby, I painted it with a fine coat of white, added some gold leaves made from succah decorations from previous years, and voila! I then went on to make a larger version, with a complete tutorial that you can find here.

Wishing everyone a meaningful Hoshana Raba, and wonderful Simchat Torah, which we celebrate in our homes, in Israel starting tonight, and elsewhere starting Monday night.

DIY Seven Species Garland

As you can well guess I have so many Succah decorations from previous years that I still love, so spending time making new ones is certainly not a priority! Of course when one of my sons requested that I create the "seven species" as part of my Daily Object series (read about that here) in order to hang them in the succah, well of course I could not resist, because while we try to hang actual versions of the 7 species in the succah, artistic representations of them haven't been created for some time, and my previous version is in a box lost in the attic somewhere! So while of course now is not the time to be making succah decorations, you can save this idea for next year, or after the holiday get to work on your own version to enjoy for the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat, when we eat the 7 species! What are the 7 species you ask? Keep on reading!

Adorable Doodle Pears Boxes To Stack As Art!

Sometimes it is the DIY projects with just the simplest materials, and of course recyclables to boot, that are truly the most special! And these fun stackable doodle pear boxes are truly the proof in the pudding, right? It all started out because I'm doing an instagram challenge called #colormegrow at my @sara.rivka.dahan account, and this week we were working on a project using just red, black and white. The challenge will last for at least 3 months, and I'm planning to do boxes every week, so that at the end I'll have a nice tower! Each week, depending on which color or colors the challenge dictates, I'll be painting stripes on little recycled food boxes (like tea boxes and one sleeve cookie boxes, toothpaste boxes, etc.) and then turning that into something. Last week I made landscapes from my blue boxes, and this week, well, the challenge subject was pears and today is Tu B'Shevat, so a fun pattern with doodle pears was an obvious choice! Of course, if you like my pears, you can use this idea on canvas or paper, it would be fun art in any form.  Okay, lets do it, shall we?