creative jewish mom

Origami Butterfly Pom Pom Medallion Wall Decor Craft

I'll admit, I started folding hundreds of origami butterflies in a few sizes for out community women's Purim party, with no actual plan other than maybe some colorful paper clouds and a sky filled with butterflies. I started to think about how I could assemble something at home to make the job on-site quicker, and all of sudden I found myself cutting circles from cardboard boxes and then pom-pom butterfly medallions with metallic gold pipe cleaner trim were born!  I did make a much larger size as well as this size with blue pom poms and a lavender butterfly in the middle, and truly just about any color combo works! At the party I hot glued the medallions to a disposable tablecloth for the stage set, and yes this was quite a labor of love, and will use everything again next year as it was all carefully dismantled after the party and is already in boxes. I did save a few medallions to hang in my home, and this one is now sitting on these painted butterfly boxes, (tuturial how to paint these 2-stroke butterflies here) while a few others are clipped onto a garland with some large paper butterflies and a few origami lemons left over from Tu B'Shevat, and that is how it rolls around here lately. Okay, time is of the essence, lets make an origami butterfly medallion, which come to think of it could be great hung around the neck of a child dressed as a butterfly, check out a simple yet great looking butterfly costume here.

Okay, the butterflies are calling......

Embroidered Pomegranite On Cardboard Ornament Craft

There is something just so very fun about embroidery on recycled materials, whether it be embroidery on styrofoam trays, or in this case on recycled cereal box cardboard! And while I did use traditional embroidery floss here, meaning whatever I had on hand, one can use yarn, string, plastic bag yarn (note to self) or t-shirt yarn, or anything really than can go through the eye of a needle or be poked through a hole!  Large scale embroidery or cross stitch can be a great way to make decorations or wall hangings or in this case a Shanah Tovah card that can then be used as an ornament in the succah. Do keep in mind that embroidery, whether traditionally sized or larger does take time, so don't try to pull this one off at the last minute, rather enjoy the process.

And friends, with Succot coming up in 10 days, now would be the time to get crafting, as there is nothing like filling your succah with creativity! As you can guess, in our family that would be my domain, so note to self as well! Okay, lets get started with this one, shall we?

Embroidered Apple On Cardboard Rosh HaShana Card Craft

I followed my own advice about making some cross stitch apple crafts (check out my first cross stitch apple craft here) for Rosh Hashana, and last night in the wee hours of the morning I made my son a birthday card featuring a slightly different cross stitch apple, and this time on cereal box cardboard. I'm happy with the results and wish I had time to do some more icons for Rosh HaShana, hmmm, maybe I do have the time? You'll be the first to see the results if I do, but in the mean time, think about how you can take this idea and use it for your upcoming celebration, whether it be a Fall birthday, a teacher appreciation gift, or, Rosh HaShana of course, coming up this Sunday night! Ah yes, and traditionally, the Jewish new year is the time to give cards, so if you need a special one, this could be perfect! Okay, time is of the essence, lets learn how I made this!

Vegetable Crate Cut Outs Make Great Toys!

This is not the first time I've made toys from vegetable crate cut outs, as they are just so downright wonderful! This is however the first time that I've succeeded in adding a tractor and a tree to my fruit and veggies collection, and it really is delightful! So friends, why not make a great play set for your kids or someone else's kids using cardboard crates that are in any case headed for the recycling (hopefully) and could be used in so many fun ways. Fill a little basket with them, make a garland, or even add a skewer on the back and put them in a vase or on a cake, so many ways to get creative! One thing though, you will need strong hands and good scissors!

Colorful Cardboard Pyramids Craft For Passover

 

I posted this last year, and dusted it off just a bit, as with Passover coming next Friday night, there really might be time to make some great artful pyramids, ah yes, note to self!

With Passover arriving this coming Saturday night, now is the time to fit in some last minute crafting in anticipation of this wonderful holiday, and possibly keep the kids busy with a crafting station so you can finish, or continue all the holiday preparations! The essence of the holiday is to tell the story of the Jews deliverance from Egypt to the children, so getting kids involved with decorations and hand made items to celebrate and absorb this game changing history of the Jewish people is really really important!

I have been wanting to make cardboard pyramids for a few years, and while I didn't quite realize my dreams this year, I did at least make one artful cereal box pyramid, which by the way depicts the plague of hail, which was both fire and ice, so hail can certainly be pink! I love the results (though it was questionable at first) and I wish I had time to make more. Next year I'll have to make them in January! Nothing says Egypt and slavery like the pyramids, so be sure to include them in your holiday decor. A line of pyramids running down the table would be stunning! Okay, time is of the essence, lets learn how to make some of these, pronto!

DIY Butterfly Boxes Spring Craft

As you may know, I just adore creating art on recycled, mostly little, boxes of any kind, as well as milk cartons, so after I painted some simple 2 stroke butterflies in my journal, well that just had to start covering some boxes! And of course it will not surprise you that I had a few blank green boxes sitting around from last year, so this one came together quite quickly, and I just love these. What do I love even more? The white box I also covered in butterflies which you can see if you keep on reading. So friends, time is pressed right now with just 2 weeks until Passover, so I recommend on deciding on a butterfly theme for this year's holiday, and having some fun painting a bunch of them, they are after all a nice symbol of freedom! Okay, lets do it!

DIY Butterfly Costume Is Simple And Great Looking!

I can't take credit for this cute as can be and simple butterfly costume, but I can take credit for posting it right about when you just might need a quick kid's costume for tomorrow! And I can take credit for giving you some tips for how to make it successful! With Purim coming up on Wednesday night, the kids generally do their school costume day on Tuesday, so grab those cardboard boxes, some ribbon or elastic cord a hot glue gun, white paint and some pink card stock and lets get to it! Some store bought long white gloves and a wand of some kind would be great additions to this costume, as would polka dot tights and maybe ballet slippers, or even rain boots! Come to think of it, this would be a great costume for adults as well, or how about a family of butterflies? Okay, keep on reading for a few key tips to make this costume a success!

DIY Recycled Cardboard Castle Wall Decor!

Phew, I did it, and the crowd loved the women's Purim party decor.....they said it was better than ever! Truthfully I also felt like I moved up a rung, as the look was much cleaner and in a way, simpler, than previous years when my creations may have been a bit more all over the place. And yes, thanks to that huge white cardboard box I've been saving for months (that held our new dining table light fixture) a few white cardboard castles were born, of course together with many other items as well, which I'll be sharing with you in the next few days. But first, the castle in the clouds, which is totally do-able in time for Purim, and really makes such a huge statement! I'm about to re-install the castles in my dining room, to enjoy this shabbat, and to not have to figure out where to put them!  Okay, lets get started!

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?

DIY Cake Toppers From Flower Sketches

Last summer I spent quite a few days honing my flower sketching skills by looking at free tutorials from a wide variety of sources, check out my previous posts here, and then I added watercolor to them here, just for starters! You can check out all the posts that show what I've been up to in my sketchbooks here. So, when my daughter's birthday came around, it was only natural to make some sketched peonie paper cake toppers that I ended up using in some fun birthday centerpieces (more on that later.....) I drew these from a tutorial that I saw on Pinterest, and it is truly addictive, because the flowers end up looking so well, perfect? Not that perfect is ever the goal, but with cut out sketched flowers for a cake topper or even to add to a plant or bouquet, that somewhat perfect look just plain works! And best of all, this is also a recycling craft, so keep on reading for the simple supplies, and why not spend a lazy summer day sketching some flowers to use who knows when? I am keeping my collection of these kinds of crafts in a box, to pull out when needed for birthdays, anniversaries, you name it!