creative jewish mom

Picture Ledge IKEA Hack For Displaying Your Art!

I am a huge fan of picture ledges when it comes to home decor, and we have them in three places in our home! They are of course great for displaying pictures, but also for displaying beautiful plates and platters, and in this case, in a nook in the kitchen, they are fabulous as an ever-changing gallery for all of my various projects! This year the shelves bear all kinds of fun paintings, and painted boxes and even some large 8-pointed stars made from wall paper scraps. I have to say, this corner of creativity makes me very happy, and is something that I look at all day long, and especially while standing at the kitchen sink doing that never ending pile of dishes! It feels a bit like a merchandised gift shop in my kitchen, as I have created with a specific color palette in mind, meaning all the pieces look good together. Yippee, now I finally realize how to make this picture ledge IKEA hack look great year round, create within a color palette for any given season or holiday. That does seem somewhat obvious, and not necessarily the way to approach a creative practice, meaning with color limitations, but hey, when artists create collections of paintings for a gallery show, those paintings are created as a group of sorts and must look good together to create an impression for the greater body of work. So there you have it, create with a specific palette in mind, and you don't have to make any excuses for it!

A few years back when I was in the middle of a painting stint, I realized that by simply wrapping a wire around a shelf I could hang paintings with clothes pins, which is so much fun, and a great way to look at work in progress, you know, while you're puttering in the kitchen! Speaking of puttering in the kitchen, keep on reading to see a full view of these shelves in all their winter decor glory!

Giant And Elegant Origami Apples Are Perfect For Any Fall Occasion

Origami apples are so simple to make and are the perfect craft to whip up right now! Fill a basket with them to use as a centerpiece, use them as place cards, hang them mobile style or make a bunch and scatter them around the house. (Or save this idea and gift a whole basket full to your teacher!) The best part is they look great everywhere and any where, and would make cute little Rosh HaShana gifts as well. Attach a tag that is a card and you'll surely warm the hearts of all your recipients! I used these very apples as apple centerpieces for a Rosh Chodesh party, and then a neighbor borrowed them as centerpieces for a Brit, and depending on the colors you choose they can look elegant or playful, or both. So take my advice and get crafting dear friends, the Jewish New year is in less than 3 weeks, with Succos to follow so a barrel of origami apples will serve you well, promise! And yes, you can of course make these in a smaller size and in a variety of colors to represent a wide range of fruit, as I've done here with my origami fruit, cute as can be!

How To Make A Quick Plastic Straw Cake Banner

Introducing the cutest cake banner ever made in about 5 minutes, literally! I had to whip up some decorations as a surprise for my son's birthday, and with shabbos quickly approaching I literally had no time, and yet the results all in all where some of my best yet, go figure! Truthfully sticking with just one type of material, in this case plastic straws in specific colors gave a really nice consistency to the party table, and while it could have looked very childish, I actually pulled it off for a fourteen year old, phew! I love cake banners, and have made sweet paper and washi tape ones in the past, but this one is just a little bit unexpected and when paired with the drinking straw cake flowers, it is a winner! Ah yes, and of course make a bunch of drinking straw starbursts for the table to complete the look, and you'll be stocking up on straws for future parties, I have no doubt. This cake banner is pretty self explanatory, but I'll spell it out for you in case you are so short of time that you just need that extra push.......lets do it!

Drinking Straw Starbursts Make Perfect Birthday Centerpieces

Here it is, the simplest birthday centerpiece with the greatest WOW value, drinking straw starbursts! And best of all, they aren't just for birthdays, I just realized if you have gold or silver straws you could actually make some drinking straw starbursts worthy of a wedding, an anniversary or any event that requires a touch of elegance, really! This is a quick project that makes zero mess, could be done on the site of the party, and saved in a a big box for another use. (And yes, please don't toss them, they are not environmentally friendly.) I could see these starburst straw decorations being hung in a stairwell vertically, or even being scattered over a lawn to add some fun color. I just realized that one could likely make a huge version of this with some pool noodles, which could be amazing! With just a few important tips for making these straw starbursts I have a feeling party decorations are going to take on a whole new meaning in your life! Let's get started.......

Fringed Woven Placemat IKEA Hack With T-Shirt Yarn

I love t-shirt yarn, and have been thinking about using it for macrame and embroidery, not just crocheting! Industrial-waste t-shirt yarn also supports eco consciousness, as it is made from odds and ends of fabric left after the pieces for making clothing is cut from the yardage. What I found after making these fringed and embroidered placemats/wall hangings is that t-shirt yarn is a great way to add color to a project that might have called for rope of some kind, and it works great for fringe, tassels (see my t-shirt yarn tassels) and more. So if you're looking for a simple and stylish summer project, this is it! These placemats work great placed on round side tables or outdoor tables or anywhere to add some flare our protect a wooden surface. Ah yes, and of course you can easily make some wall hangings, which I truly am going to do as I have a bunch more of these placemats to craft with!

Embroidering With T-Shirt Yarn!

Ever thought about embroidering with t-shirt yarn? I am always looking for ways to do intricate yet lovely crafts in a quicker way, so embroidery with t-shirt yarn is certainly one way to do that, right? With ethnic wall hangings and baskets still popular in the home decor arena, now is the perfect time to make some fun summer accessories for your home, with some t-shirt yarn and some woven placemats or baskets. I actually made the example here as a wall hanging, though it has not yet made it to the wall, it is propped up on a bedside table under a window for now, and maybe forever until I make something new! Okay, ready for a few tips to get those creative gears turning? Read on......

Simple Moroccan Theme Centerpieces For A Jewish Henna Party

A Jewish Henna party? Yes indeed dear readers, Jews from places like North Africa/Morocco, Yemen, and even Iran do have the tradition of a henna ceremony sometime before the wedding. The main difference between the Jewish henna ceremony and the henna ceremonies I've seen from India is that the Jewish ceremony does not involve drawing designs, rather a large round mark is made on the hand with the henna, and there are even little round badges with ribbons that are used to tie the henna to the palm as it must be held in place for a while in order to leave a mark. The three hebrew letters that spell henna are chet, nun and hay, and those are the first letters in the words that spell the three mitzvot that are exclusive to women. These three mitzvot are Challah, Niddah and Haladkat Neros, meaning taking the challah portion (with a blessing), observing family purity, and lighting shabbat candles.

My neighbor's daughter got engaged last week, so I was recruited to help with decorations for the Henna portion of the evening.......needless to say I had everything on hand and everyone was thrilled with my efforts, which I'll be sharing with you here, well a few photos in any case. Before I realized that I needed a largish centerpiece as the tables at the hall are huge, I came up with the idea for this sweet centerpiece, and truthfully you can take this idea and use it for any theme you like. Let's get started shall we?

Giant Origami Fruit Centerpiece IKEA Hack

What do you get when origami meets IKEA? You get a giant origami fruit centerpiece that is very budget friendly and great for large parties with lots of tables. You know like Bar Mitzvahs, and Bat Mitzvahs and budget weddings, or sheva brachas, or a community event or a large birthday party, or just about any occasion that warrants a creative touch without breaking the bank. Not every creative touch centerpiece I've created over the years (and believe me, there have been many) has been as sweet as this one, and best of all when the festive occasion is over you can give away the origami fruit and just keep the stands, or make a fun mobile with them, or save them for a bit to re-use. I think I'm going to add some gold polka dots to the origami apples that survived the second occasion, (a brit milah with a ton of kids) and use them to decorate the house for Purim! Actually I have a bunch of small origami apples that never made it to the phase where they actually become fruit, so those might be nice string light covers, or look great hanging from the ceiling somewhere........Purim is a festive holiday and a great excuse for someone like me to go a little crazier than usual, right? Okay, back to the Ikea Hack centerpieces, lets get started.......

Picture Ledges For Displaying Art In Progress

Since I have now officially been brave enough to share my floral paintings,  I thought I'd show you where they sit in our home. Well at least the current favorites, as there is only so much space. I just love these picture ledges from Ikea, and they are great for displaying not just pictures or art works in progress but also little items of interest. If you want to know what holiday is coming up, generally these shelves will clue you in, well except for this year as I've been busy learning to paint rather than making Chanukah decorations, which I'm actually really happy about, as i've been wanting to do this for so many years and never quite got there.

These shelves sit over the kitchen table at the end of our kitchen, so while I'm cooking up a storm or washing dishes I can look at my work and decide what changes to make. Or not to make. The paintings shown here are mostly done, namely I'm not going to touch them anymore as they'll likely end up getting worse not better. And some of them are already the third painting done on the same sheet of paper, for the sake of not being wasteful as art supplies here in Israel tend to be pricey.

Simple IKEA Hack: Ekby Valter Bracket Wall Sconce!

Hey there, the whole world has fun coming up with creative IKEA hacks, so I'm now joining the club. This first one I'm sharing is not my idea, so only taking credit for seeing the idea and actually following through, yippee! This idea is for those of us who would like a modern playful light on the wall but don't have wiring in that spot, ta da, you do need an outlet though, hopefully not too far away. This Ikea hack uses one thing from Ikea, the Ekby Valter shelf bracket in the larger size, together with a simple bulb and cord that I bought at an Israeli lighting store. One can get a bit more complicated with this is you are so inclined by actually threading the cord through the hole, but for now I just wrapped mine around for the simplest solution. Want to make one yourself, keep on reading for some important tips!