creative jewish mom

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here. This week has been full of conversations about knitting and a plan to go with a friend of mine to learn how to knit a traditional Jewish knit kippa from a woman (who is the great grandmother to some of my friend's grandchildren, so she has a family connection, and will do a better job of writing down the pattern in Hebrew!) Now, this plan involves a 2 hour bus ride each way, and multiple visits so here's to hoping it really does happen as I've been needing to do this for years! On top of that, my 20 year old daughter came home for shabbat and suddenly announced that she wants to learn to knit and crochet, and my heart nearly exploded! Later she said "I guess I really am becoming you....." and it sure seems that way, so maybe she'll be able to take over this blog someday, here's hoping! In the meantime of course, I will continue to sail the ship happily. Let's take a look at last week's features, shall we?

Simple DIY Broken Tile Mosaic

I love mosaics of all kinds, though the ones I've actually made have mostly been using broken ceramic tile and dishes. So this August when our airbnb's rooftop porch had lots of mosaic covered surfaces, I felt right at home! The mosaic portions are actually the top of the exterior walls of the home below, and beyond the railing (not to worry there is one!) and this crafty touch lends a really nice feeling to a vacation rental, not to mention that it pairs nicely with the artificial grass! Enjoy this look at broken tile mosaic, and think about where this might work for you?

Views Of The Kinnerest And Har Arbel From Hararit

This past August during our 3 week summer vacation, we had the great pleasure of exploring some stunning mountainous areas in the lower Galil, under an hour's drive from our home, and yet new to us. One of my favorite locations was a community called Hararit, where there are stunning mountian views on two sides of the mountain peak top location as well as a lovely view of Lake Tiberius (the Kinneret) and Mt. Arbel, another favorite location. Hararit is located on the Netofa mountain range, which is parallel to the Meron mountain range, the end of which we see from our home. So friends, enjoy my photos and think about visiting this amazing location yourself someday.......ask me about it if you like!

A Sunburst Over The Galil In Northern Israel Just Before Sunset

Yesterday as I was pondering whether I had time to do a #sketchfrommywindow for my ongoing Instagram sketching challenge, when I suddenly spied rays of light coming from behind a cloud, and ran to grab my camera! Not every spectacular thing in the sky can be captured by a camera, or at least not mine, so I was very pleased to see that I did manage to capture this "sunburst" over the Galil, and more specifically over the Meron mountain range! So now, when someone draws a sun with rays coming out of it, well, we can say we've actually seen something just like it! Okay, lets take a peek at some more photos, shall we?

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday, thanks so much for joining me here! Fall has arrived indeed, and we have changed our clocks, so everything feels different which is inspiring! I feel like making some cozy crafts, then again maybe I'd best get a head start on Chanukah? As always I continue to spend my creative time on my art, so crafting has generally taken a back seat, but since I always go all out with Chanukah decorations I can't stop now! Okay, lets take a look at the features from last week's party!

A Visit To The Yodfat Monkey Forest

This past August, when I realized that the historic site of Yodfat (written about here) as well as The Monkey Forest of Yodfat were just a 20 minute mountain-ridge drive away, well we just had to check it out! My husband and I and three very grown up teens visited the Monkey Forest, and while it is certainly geared towards younger children we actually had a nice time and it felt good to support their work as a refuge sight for monkeys that no longer fit into the zoo scenario for whatever reason.

The Yodfat Monkey Forest is a 10-acre wildlife refuge situated in the natural oak forest of Moshav Yodfat. The Yodfat Monkey Forest has harbored a troop of squirrel monkeys since 1976, as well as rescuing and providing a life-long home for animals that have been subjected to deprivation or neglect. Their goal is to provide the animals a life of dignity and respect and instill a love of wildlife and nature in our visitors. So friends, plan a day in Yodfat, and be sure to visit the monkeys! The most memorable part of the visit may not be the alpaca with the crooked tooth, but rather the squirrel monkeys whose giant cage you walk into, and whom you can feed worms purchased on site. The monkeys come quite close to take the food from your hand, which is certainly exciting! Okay, lets take a look.......

A Visit To Ancient Yodfat, Galil Israel

This past August we had the pleasure of visiting the ancient city of Yodfat, located in the south west Galil, in Northern Israel. It is true, most of the family actually stayed in the car, but one of my sons did venture out into the hot afternoon sun with me to briefly check out this very important historic site. I do hope to return another time to explore the many trails, as it is certainly a lovely spot worth exploring.

Yodfat is famous for the siege of Yodfat, a 47-day siege by Roman forces of the Jewish town of Yodfat which took place in 67 CE, during the Great Revolt. Led by Roman General Vespasian and his son Titus, both future emperors, the siege ended with the sacking of the town, the deaths of most of its inhabitants and the enslavement of the rest. It was the second bloodiest battle of the revolt, surpassed only by the Siege of Jerusalem, and the longest except for Jerusalem and Masada. The siege was chronicled by Josephus, who had personally commanded the Jewish forces at Yodfat and was subsequently captured by the Romans.

We took the short walk out on a paved path, to see some of the excavated site, and this is what we saw, care to join me?

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Thanks so much for joining me here on Craft Schooling Sunday! Now that Fall is truly here, time to get crafting cozy gifts and all things that one can do indoors! I'll admit I bought 5 huge skeins of t-shirt yarn, since they were just 5 for 100 shekels, which at $6 a skein for 600-700 gram is quite a good price, hmmm, maybe I need more? I think I'll be doing some fun pouches for Chanukah and maybe a bit of embroidery on round placemats, time will tell! And you my crafty friends, get crafting, but first a quick look at the features might just be a great idea, enjoy!

Bird On A Branch Mosaic Craft

One of the highlights of our summer travels within Israel was spotting creative mosaics in just about every new location! While i have not done any mosaics in years, spotting them sure does warm my heart, and I do of course plan to do some again some day, as yes, I do have some boxes of broken dishes somewhere, they just need to scream louder to get my attention! This little bird mosaic is just as cute as can be, and would be great outdoors, or indoors as wall art. Of course, cutting or breaking your tiles or dishes into tiny pieces does make quite a mess, so I recommend doing that part at least outdoors, but one can certainly do the glueing/adhering indoors, unless of course your mosaic is for an outdoor wall! Then again, some folks assemble a mosaic on a piece of plastic netting or canvas indoors, and then affix that to the wall outdoors and then grout. So many ways to go, and really just sharing this to inspire you!

8 Fun Ways To Recycle Old Clothes For DIY Projects

If you have been reading this blog for a number of years you'll of course know that one of my favorite things to do is to make DIY crafts from items that would otherwise end up in the recycling bin or trash can. And since it is never clear where even items placed in sorted recycling actually go in the end, the best thing is to use whatever you can! This is especially true of fabric and clothing, and friends, there are so many great things one can do old clothes and bedding, so keep on reading and take a look at my top tips for recycling old clothing as supplies for DIY craft projects. You will never look at your old clothing in the same way, promise!

Don't let your old clothes end up in a landfill somewhere - there are so many ways to recycle and re-purpose them. So lets get creative, have some fun, and do our part to help the environment! Are you ready? Keep on reading!