creative jewish mom

5 DIY Floral Arrangements For The Fall Holiday Season

With the "high holiday" Jewish holiday season now at hand, together with the fall season, now is a wonderful time to create beautiful DIY fall floral arrangements. Some of the ideas I've presented here couldn't be simpler, and some take a bit more effort, but either way, you can make your holiday table something truly wonderful. While there is nothing like real flowers, artificial flowers sometimes are the only way to go especially if you'd like a floral arrangement in your Succah or many arrangements around the house for a festive feel. Or maybe that hanging floral arrangement over the table? (I'm dreaming of that!) Faux flowers can also be used as flower diffusers to give a nice scent to a bathroom. laundry room or bedroom, so do consider that as well. Okay, lets take a look at 5 wonderful ideas for DIY floral arrangements!

Stunning Floral Arrangements For A Rustic Chuppah

Last night we had the great pleasure of attending the wedding of a 2nd cousin at a kibbutz wedding venue just outside of Ranana, Israel, and I shared the photos of the stunning rustic chuppah earlier. Now, lets take a closer look at those floral arrangements which really pulled the whole chuppa look together. Not to mention that all the women/girls in the wedding party wore burgundy dresses, a wonderful choice. While decorating a chuppa with real flowers may not be the most budget friendly choice, it sure is lovely! Here in Israel actually, to cut down on the cost of fresh flowers on tables, for example, and behind the bridal chair, real flowers are often placed together with faux flowers, say covering topiaries or arches, and it can look quite good as well, so do consider that option, if you want to maximize your budget! This wedding even had party favors, which I will share soon. Okay lets take a closer look at those arrangements, come along!

A Stunning Rustic Chuppa Under The Stars

Last night we were so thrilled to attend the stunning and so very festive wedding of my husband's cousin's daughter, at a wedding venue on a kibbutz in Naan, Israel, not far from Ranana. There were so many smiles at this wedding of at least 500 guests, it was truly special! We made a wonderful new connection with a distant cousin we had never met, (and who lives in Israel) and were happy to see the Aunts and cousins of the bride who were able to fly in from Canada. Needless to say I invited quite a few of these second and third cousins (including the new couple) to come to our home for Shabbat, and I do hope they will take us up on it! Hear me cousins? Lest I digress, I wanted to share with you the gorgeous rustic chuppah, as something like this is so simple to construct, and so lovely for those seeking something rustic! A few years ago I also shared a lovely rustic bamboo chuppa, that can be easily set up anywhere, so have a peek at that here. I've also shared a post on the chuppa flower arrangements as I just had to highlight them! Lets zoom out to see the surroundings, shall we?

DIY Botanical Doodle Cake Toppers For Birthdays And Anniversaries!

Last summer I spent many hours creating in my sketchbooks, including many hours of drawing botanicals, which then resulted in using those botanicals in many ways. For starters I did create a floral monogram which you can see here, and I also used my botanical sketches to create a frame in my sketchbook, here. After that, my daughter's birthday came along, and I created an 18 in the same style as the numbers you see here. I loved the results so much, that I then created one for each of my teen sons for their birthdays, in September 2020 and June 2021, which is what I've photographed here. While these botanical doodle cake toppers look complicated, they really are quite simple, and if you have time, you can create other items in this same style, like cupcake toppers, napkin rings, gift toppers, you name it! Okay, lets take a closer look!

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!

Popular Jewish Wedding Trends To Look Forward To This Year

Jewish weddings are a very big deal, regardless of whether you are orthodox, conservative or reform (or none of those) the wedding day is meaningful for the couples, for the families, and for the generations of family in the chain of history. As with any wedding a great deal of planning goes into a Jewish wedding, and many very important decisions have to be made involving everything from the bride's attire and the extended family's attire, to the food and music. Although Jewish weddings are steeped in tradition, decorative trends do of course make their appearance, subtly and sometimes not so subtly. After what was a very low key year as far as special celebrations, the coming year will hopefully allow for all those who wish, to celebrate their big day with gatherings that suit their family. Let’s have a closer look at some of the hottest wedding trends you might expect to see at weddings in the near future.

DIY Paper Vase For Spring Makes An Amazing Gift!

When it comes to making a DIY paper vase, there are literally so many ways to go, though for me, the idea of using not successful artwork is a lightbulb moment that happened one evening. I was going to use an abstract pattern to create a vase, and in the same pile as that absract pattern was this sweet landscape that I liked, but didn't love. As a vase however, it is fabulous! And friends, when you are in the groove of making lots of art, a way to use up anything you wouldn't want to see on someone else's wall is like gold! Even when painting on paper the pile starts to get out of control, so pick the ones you aren't loving and then make a wonderful artful vase! While I wouldn't want to give someone my mediocre painting, i would give them my mediocre painting turned into a vase, because it is just so charming! Okay, want to see the painting before I cut it up? Keep on reading......

Milk Carton Houses With Graffiti Hearts!

I really can't count the times I've planned to make milk carton houses, nor how many milk cartons I have packed away in the basement for those dream projects, but I can report to have taken one tiny step forward with these milk carton heart graffiti wall houses! I realize it sounds like I've never made milk carton houses, silly me, I certainly have, twice, milk carton house planter, and doodled millk carton houses. I've been all about hearts lately, and while the hearts I've been painting haven't exactly been graffiti hearts, lets just pretend they are, and certainly when painted on a milk carton house they can be! And of course there are many leaves shaped like hearts, so cover a milk carton with green hearts and you've got a wall of ivy or a garden. Add a few small house details and a whole row of houses is born! This is such a fun project for any age, and I recommend painting a bunch of milk cartons to have on hand, as in general painting on 3D objects is great for developing a creative eye, and for adding something fresh to your crafting or creative practice!  Ah yes, and with the Jewish new year for the trees coming next week, include a few almond blooms, or a blooming fruit tree and include this in your holiday decor. Either way, it feels like Spring, so it works for Tu B'Shevat! Okay, lets get started, shall we? I almost forgot, check out all of my milk carton crafts for lots more inspiration, and to plan ahead, meaning batch prepare some milk cartons for future crafts!

Mini Graffiti Hearts Painting To Spread The Love

Now is a great time to spread the love by painting tiny hearts galore! And while it is true that folks are thinking about hearts as February approaches, hearts are great anytime, and who couldn't use a little extra love right about now?  A mini hearts painting that could also become a mix of hearts to look more like a graffiti hearts painting is a great project to do over the course of a few days, and perfect for beginners. And, if you feel like painting something to give as a gift, this idea done on small canvases would also look great. I'll admit, it is more difficult that it looks, but the great thing about acrylic paint is that if you're not happy with the outcome, use that as the under layer for another painting! Start your painting by writing your heart's desire on the first layer, or fill it with wishes or prayers for a loved one, and paint away. With each heart send some love to the person for whom you are painting this, and your painting will truly be more than just a pattern, it will be a work of art literally filled with love! Okay, you will need to practive painting little hearts, but once the muscle memory in your hand kicks in, it is just a matter of diligence! Let's get started!

Tiny Painted Hearts Recycled Gift Box!

My love for recycling crafts has now officially married my newish love for painting, and this tiny painted hearts gift box is the proof!  It is true, I have been painting recycled gift boxes for a good few months now, you can see the abstract vases box here, and loose abstract flowers here, a large floral painting on a box here, and winter mittens here, and the fun painted apples here. Honestly I have been using them as holiday and kitchen art gallery decor rather than actual gift giving, as there is just something so lovely about stacked boxes adorned with artful paintings and patterns! Plus they fit nicely on my picture ledge art gallery of sorts, and provide a creative outlet that could be used, though I'd have to make multiples in order to part with them at this point. So what can I tell you, painting on boxes is just oh so satisfying! A box painted with layers of hearts like this one is so cheerful and looks great as part of a vignette, or placed just about anywhere. If your box is strong enough you can place a rectangular piece of glass on top and use it as a dessert platter on a dessert bar, or how about putting a vase in the box and using the box as a vase, now that just might work! Okay, convinced? Lets make a tiny hearts painted gift box!