creative jewish mom

DIY Recycled Cardboard Roosters Craft For Yom Kippur

Pulling this one out of the archives because it is just too sweet and too wonderful not to share. Make a giant cardboard rooster for Yom Kippur, and then use him any time! Give him a birthday crown? A ski hat? You got the picture, so go for it!

Ever thought about using some recycled cardboard to make some fun cardboard roosters? Truthfully, I hadn't either, but after making a black rooster and a white rooster, well I just want to make some more. I made them to use as stage props in a school play, but they'd look great in a child's room, or even in your kitchen, so have some fun and make a cardboard rooster, or two or three! Assuming you have a bit of paint on hand the rest of the supplies are basically free, so this is a budget friendly craft project as well......ah yes, and with the Jewish holiday of Purim coming, well filling the house with roosters and chickens could be quite festive, and certainly sure to bring a laugh. Okay, lets get started.......

Giant Cardboard Seahorse Craft For Rosh HaShanah

You might be wondering what sea horses have to do with Rosh HaShana, and yes I might too! But lets face it, every Jewish holiday is packed with so much meaning and symbolism that using the same symbols and visual cues does seem a bit repetitive to someone like me! So while the actual seahorse may be stretching it, certainly the sea and fish make great Rosh HaShana symbols, so if some sea horses happen to be hanging out to enjoy the show, why not? Sea horses are such wonderful creatures, and at the least remind us to appreciate the amazing natural world in which we live, and appreciation and gratefulness are wonderful mindsets for the holiday, so there you have it! How about getting one of the kids to dance in as a seahorse during the meal or creating a little skit about tashlich? Either way, adding some seahorses to your holiday will certainly be memorable, I can guarantee that! And of course you should make some giant cardboard waves as well, right? Suddenly I'm visualizing seahorses with apples and pomegranates on their heads, namely one pomegranate like a crown, could be great!

Giant Recycled Cardboard Waves Craft For Rosh HaShana

Yes of course, all things apples and pomegranates and honey make wonderful Rosh HaShana crafts and holiday decor, but this year with Rosh HaShana coming in less than a month I thought I'd start with something that brings attention to the wonderful Rosh HaShana tradition of saying Tashlich, which ideally happens next to a natural body of water, and therefore I bring you recycled cardboard waves! I love the idea of getting parents or teens to cut out lots of waves, and then letting kid paint and decorate them. They can be a fun toy for the holiday and you can then set them aside to use for Passover and the splitting of the Red Sea! Check out my metallic waves centerpiece craft for more inspiration, and think about making waves (in a good way of course) for the new year! Ah yes, and what is Tashlich, you may ask? Keep on reading........

A Recycled Wine Bottle Carrying Box Becomes A No-Pressure Canvas

A few weeks ago a shabbat guest brought us a bottle of wine, as many do, though rather than in a gift box, the bottle was in a carrying box made for two bottles. We have lots of guests, so I save lots of wine bags and even nice boxes, but this was the first box of its kind to find its way to me, and I just knew i had to paint it! After a few weeks painting on only paper I was just itching to do something lower pressure and just for fun, using left over paint from other paintings of course. And for a moment I thought I'd be tossing the box, in the end it all worked out and I actually love this litte painting on a wine box! Of course it did have many steps and sections got repainted entirely, but the lesson here is patience! And truthfully, just like watercolor paper, a box like this could sure take quite a few coats of paint, so if the first try fails, paint over it and start again! I'm not sure if I'll be using this as a gift box or not, (still need to finish the other side) but if I do I think I'll seal it with a coat of varnish. Then again, I think I need to hang onto it, as when the painted milk cartons come out again in the winter, I do believe this vase of flowers would be a nice addition!

Kid's Craft For The "Three Weeks" of Mourning Leading Up to The 9th of Av

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I have pulled this post from the archives, as it is still a keeper so many years later! This year I did not acknowledge the beginning of the solemn 3 week period, which started on July 6th, so making up for that now.......

Ten days ago, on July 6th, was the Jewish date of the 17th of Tammuz, a solemn fast day on the Jewish calendar which marks the beginning of a three week period of mourning for the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, (The Holy Temple/King Soloman's Temple.) Here is where the old post starts:

So with the boys home from school early, and my daughter just starting her summer vacation, there is no time like the present to try and get back into our crafting groove which I have missed greatly! So today I pulled out the watercolors, and grabbed a white corrugated cardboard box, and we all spent some time painting the stones of the kotel, and I just love the results!

Yes, my boys smirked when I told them to use bright and beautiful colors for the stones that they know as beige, but I explained to them that we were painting the stories that the stones had surely witnessed, and all the beautiful prayers whispered in front of these stones every day by countless individuals from both near and far.

Giant DIY Cardboard Cactus Craft

Who doesn't love a giant cardboard cactus, especially as a craft for kids? Though honestly, I think I need to make one or a few, for myself......in pink and blue too! First of all, I can't take credit for this, the photos, (taken in what it looks like a really nice kid's creativity center possibly in the Netherlands?) were taken by Ron Lach, though the project looks like it was commercially cut cardboard. Hmmm, we can certainly do that ourselves though! So no tips on this one, but hopefully I'll get around to it myself. Keep on reading for a few more photos.....

DIY Giant Cardboard Shark Craft For Kids

Summer is the perfect time to delve into large scale crafts that kids can use to decorate a space, use as backdrops for a summer skit, or for creative play. While this is not my idea nor my photos, the photos are by Ron Lach, I just love this idea and all the creativity that it can foster. It is true, younger kids will need help drawing and cutting out the shark shape, and you might want to make templates in a few sizes and varieties for kids to trace, but other than that there is so much one can do with this idea. How about a shark covered in collage, or pom poms or even flowers? Use shark shapes to create art of any kind, and then assemble them swimming across a wall, a wonderful idea for a summer art camp or class project. OR maybe take this idea and create a school of fish? The main thing is, get kids to delve into the wonderful world of creativity instead of screen time, and wow, you've really done something meaningful and significant for them. Got it? Lets make some sharks!

Recycling Pyramid Crafts For Passover

With Passover starting in just one week, the pressure is on, at least for those of us responsible for cleaning our homes (and at the very least our kitchens) from top to bottom, albeit with help from the husband and teens, phew! I don't think I'll have much time for crafting other than some origami fish to celebrate the crossing of the Red Sea, so I've put these fun pyramids in the living room, and they look great! The plastic pyramid filled with white pom poms was filled with candy and we received it as a Purim gift one year, best gift ever! The painted pyramid is a fun craft to make in any size with cereal boxes, so maybe give that some thought? Make a bunch of blanks and keep the kids busy decorating them? I might do that if I had little ones around, or if I was going away for Passover, but no, instead my house gets the deep cleaning that it so greatly needs! Okay, for those who would like to get crafting, keep on reading!

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?