creative jewish mom

Watercolor One Stroke Leaves On Branches

With just a few very simpe techniques under your belt the mystery of painting simple and beautiful watercolor illustrations becomes so much clearer! I'll admit, learning how to paint leaves with just one stroke was a new one for me, and I am in love with this technique! Yesterday I shared with you my fern leaf watercolors, and today we're going for a denser bush/tree look by painting leaves on delicate branches.

So get out those round watercolor brushes and some watercolor paper, or at the least round brushes and paint of any kind, and lets get started!

Simply Lovely Watercolor Fern Paintings For Mastering Brush Control

Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish holiday that celebrates the New Year for the trees starts tonight, and if you have 30 minutes or so you can still whip up some gorgeous watercolor leaf paintings and learn about practicing your brush strokes a win win crafting experience! While I have yet to actually put in the time I'd like, I'm in the process of honing/learning some illustration skills, starting with watercolor painting. It turns out that the first step is learning brush control, using a round brush, and leaves like the ones used in my fern illustrations are created with just one stroke. Pretty great I must admit, and so relaxing to paint. A friend was over the other day and she thought I had stamped all these little leaves! Of course there are so many designs one can make once you master the one stroke leaf, so give it a try and enjoy!

Orange Pomanders: The Perfect Family Craft Activity For Tu B'Shevat

It has been eight 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 may not have time to actually make some of these pomanders before ushering the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat tomorrow night, but they would be a great craft activity to do on the holiday itself. 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!

Simple Origami Fruit Is The Perfect Last Minute Tu B'Shevat Craft

I'm really not sure how Tu B'Shevat managed to sneak up on me just like that, but that aside, with the holiday coming tomorrow night now would be the time to whip up a few fun crafts and then run to the store and buy as many kinds of fruit (and nuts) as you possibly can to truly celebrate in style! It isn't about quantity but about variety, so go for it! And speaking of variety, with this simple origami fruit craft you really can make a variety of fruit! Think orange paper for an orange, yellow paper for a lemon, green and red paper for apples, and purple paper for a plum!

Now, if you need a quick centerpiece, or something large to hang, go ahead and use the largest paper you can find to make fruit that really make a statement. Solid color wrapping paper might also work if it is thick enough, or simply double it up.

Crocheted Hearts Wall Hanging From The Archives

How about making a crocheted hearts wall hanging to remind someone that you love them? I made this crocheted hearts and leaves wall hanging using a real branch, to hang in my daughter's room four yeas ago, and while it did sag just a bit towards the end of its run, all in all it was a huge success. Now we are in the process of redecorating my daughter's room, so the wall hanging has come down, but it is still such a wonderful project that I thought I'd share it with you again!

I did spend some time working up some more of these cherry blossom popcorn stitch hearts in new colors, (check them out here, with an additional row too) and I may just remake the wall hanging using those, we'll just have to see how it goes! I've also developed a few crocheted leaves inspired by this one, so stay tuned for that as well, and let me know if you give this project a try!

Crocheted Cherry Blossom Heart Is Super Sweet!

It is now the Jewish month of Shevat, so dear friends it is certainly time to start thinking about crafts for Tu B'Shevat, the holiday which celebrates the new year for the trees. Yes, really, trees have a new year's too, isn't that amazing?  While much of the Western World celebrates the tree in December, we do it around February, just as winter is coming to an end and the very first stirrings of spring and re-birth are happening. The first blossoms in Israel (which happens around Tu B'Shevat give or take) are those of the almond tree, whose blossoms are very much like cherry blossoms, so I'd say this sweet crocheted cherry blossom center heart qualifies as a craft for Tu B'Shevat! And of course, you can never have too many hearts!

For those of you who have been hanging around Creative Jewish Mom long enough, you may recognize this heart, as I used it to make a crocheted hearts wall hanging four years ago. The wall hanging doesn't match my teenage daughter's new room decor, but the pattern is still great, so I'm creating with it once again, with a few changes of course!

DIY: Miniature Candy Apples Are Perfectly Adorable

I now present you dear readers with just about the simplest and most adorable way to decorate a cake, cupcakes, a dessert plate: mini candy apples made from toffee candies with clove stems! And of course you can use this same idea to make mini candy lemons, oranges and grapes. It is true I am the kind of mom who shudders at the thought of buying candy, but of course the candy thing is way beyond my control and the dreaded stuff does make its way into our house, and especially those little colorful gummy toffee candies as those are very often thrown from the balcony of the synagogue (at the groom, called the chatan) on the shabbat before a wedding. And yes, you'd better believe it, my kids are there front and center to scoop up as much as they can. The good news as that I can now tell the kids I need those toffees to make some adorable little candy apples, ah yes and one could even make a bunch and freeze them!

Oh, and just by the way, this was not my idea, though the clove stem was actually, it was directly inspired by the amazing candy filled cornucopia that I've featured on Craft Schooling Sunday, here, for two years in a row, because I just couldn't resist.

Ready to learn how to make these? I'm sure you'll be nabbing toffees from your loved ones too, as you should if you really love them, right?

DIY: Rope Wrapped Apples Look Great Year Round

If you are looking for a quick craft to add some cozy rustic charm to your home, this dear readers might just do the trick. These DIY rope covered apples are so simple to make that you can surely whip up a whole bowl full in an hour or so. Of course if you start calling all your friends to tell them about this great craft you found, well that may just increase your crafting time, so I'd say craft and then tell! Or in this case, Pin, if you would be so kind?

Rope, in this case the thinnest one I could find at my local hardware store, is great for making things that have that rustic feeling I'm craving this fall, and really can be used for so many things. I have made a crocheted rope heart, as well as a knit rope pot holder with this same cotton two ply chord/rope, and it really is exactly the right thickness for wrapping small to medium sized items.

Ready to get wrapping? Here we go.......................

Fabulous Wire Frame Tree Sculptures As Summer Street Art In Montreal

One of the things that Canada does really well, and Montreal in particular is celebrating the outdoors during the summer, as winter is harsh and very long! This summer in Montreal we came across many many examples of street celebrations and I especially loved these vibrant metal trees defined with strips of fabricm delineating an area in downtown Montreal used for lunch time concerts....a lovely program and wonderful sculptures that were made without investing a huge sum......I am assuming they are saved from year to year, at least hoping that is the case!

And this dear readers can certainly be a source of inspiration for your own creative fall crafting, right?

Stand Up Tree Craft Is Perfect For Tu B'Shevat!

Isn't this standing tree just the sweetest? Thanks so much to a reader Orit, who sent this in to share what she did with her four year old, love it! They'll be using their tree as a centerpiece this shabbat when we also celebrate the wonderful holiday of Tu B'Shevat, the new year for the trees. This craft is a combination of two projects from the archives, my winter tree from recycled cardboard, and my cherry blossom tree craft.

My kids are now hovering around early teens, so they are busy with school work, piano lessons and for some even more learning after school.......so after a long day they are not really interested in crafting, and when they get home I am usually busy trying to get dinner ready and the house in somewhat functioning order! So, not a lot of crafting going on around here with the kids, so I was especially happy to receive this photo!

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