creative jewish mom

A Gorgeous And Rustic Bamboo Chuppah For An Israeli Wedding

The Jewish wedding ceremony is held under a chuppah, and while once chuppahs consisted of four wooden poles with a Tallis or embroidered velvet roof piece, today many prefer a free standing chuppah. I attended a friend's wedding just a week before Rosh HaShana, and was completely in awe of the gorgeous rustic yet elegant bamboo chuppah adorned with lovely floral arrangements. Truly stunning and wonderful inspiration for a chuppah or even for an outdoor event of some kind, or maybe even a succah? The color of the fabric was perfect and the floral arrangements truly complemented the look. And since this was a chuppah with a mountain view, well the whole thing was just wow! Keep on reading for some more photos!

Accordian Folded Paper Leaves

With Rosh HaShana now under our belts, it is time to think about Succah decorations, and this year I think I'm going to make  a large number of accordion folded paper leaves for some artful vines to cover the Succah walls. Well that is one of my plans at the moment, but don't hold your breath as that could change between now and the time that I actually start the heavy duty crafting! Nonetheless, these golden leaves are simple to make, and can be made any size you desire (meaning large, folks!) and have a very sculptural modern look to them. I'm dreaming of lots of vines running up the walls of my Succah using these paper folded leaves and wire or possibly rope as the stem. Hmmmm, hot glueing the leaves to rope is a possibility, and if the rope happens to be more like wire, that would be perfect. But first things first, lets learn how to make these leaves!

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!

Giant Paper Flower Centerpiece

A really giant centerpiece on a budget can be simple to whip up if you have the right materials and a few tips from yours truly, who specialized in making budget centerpieces on a dime. Yes, and infact I have a batch in progress for next week's Women's Purim party in our community, and it involves cardboard fish, but you'll just have to wait to see that one! In the mean time, a huge vase of flowers can instantly transform any table or room into a party, so these are perfect for Purim, especially when there are so many other things to make, at least in our house.Now I have to add, for some reason these flowers were very hard to photograph, and they actually look much better in person than in these photos, so take my word for it, and don't spend precious time on more difficult versions until you try these! And best of all, these flowers really can be make from just about any light weight paper, including recycled maps, newspaper, you name it, so get those creative gears turning!

Giant Paper Flowers For Any Occasion

When you are in a pinch, and need a quick handmade centerpiece, a huge gift topper, a teacher appreciation gift, or a giant flower to put on your front door, I've got the flower for you! This giant paper flower made from heart shaped petals is simple to make and has a fun whimsical look that is perfect for spreading the joy. Ah yes, and with Purim right around the corner a bouquet of these on your table in bright colors would be perfect, or make some to adorn a giant hat or as part of a costume! Okay, as far as a costume goes, I'd make this same flower out of craft foam for durability, and then it could even become a giant flower hat, fun!

I made this gold version for a neighbor's daughter's engagement party a month or so ago. The party included a bridal Jewish henna party, so gold was the way to go, and fortunately I had some of this light weight gold textured paper waiting to be made into something, and so, voila a huge bunch of gold flowers was born. Want to make some yourself? Let get to it!

Crocheted Flower Mobile Is Perfect For Every Occasion

A few months ago I shared my crocheted t-shirt yarn flowers, and guess what, I actually put them to use as birthday party mobile that phased nicely into Tu B'Shevat decorations, that are now phasing into Purim decorations! So for the past few months a pink crocheted flower mobile has been hanging over our dining room table, and some of the numerous guests have commented how lovely it looks, not realizing that it was actually a seasonal decoration. The great thing about this crocheted mobile is that you can hang the strands from a light fixture, as I have done, or simply attach them to a hoop. And once you crochet the flowers, assembling this spring blossom mobile is oh so simple, gotta love that! This would also be a perfect baby mobile.......wedding photo backdrop, bat mitzvah backdrop, you name it! And the individual crocheted glower garlands would look lovely hanging from a tree or really just about anywhere, just a few or a huge amount, you decide. Get a huge bunch of friends together, get lots of skeins of t-shirt yarn, and you can have yourself a great party backdrop that can then be repurposed into baby mobiles for the whole world, or floral lampshades, or one could even sew these flowers onto a blanket. Okay, enough babbling, lets whip up a crocheted flower mobile!

Golden Doves Henna Party Centerpiece

First of all, it is now the month of Adar, a month increased joy and happiness, and some sillyness to boot, so you don't need the excuse of a neighbor's henna party to make some fun Moroccan doves like these! Did you know that doves mate for life, and they also share the duties taking care of the young ones? I know this since I've had many doves nesting on my window sills over the years! So it is no accident that a pair of doves is often used as wedding symbolism. I happened to have large number of white doves that I used as centerpieces for a different kind of occassion, but thought I'd upcycle some of them to use as centerpieces at the henna party we threw for my neighbors daughter as a part of their engagement party. Maybe painting the doves gold would have been enough, but I just had to add some Moroccan touches, little Moroccan hats for the male doves, and a crown of sorts and jewelry for the female doves. Maybe a little too cute for a super elegant occassion, but this was Israeli budget style with disposable tablecloths and dishes, so cute works just fine!

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 Apples Are Perfect For Any Party

A few weeks ago, just after the holiday of Tu B'Shevat I needed to make some simple centerpieces for a community women's party, and I decided to try my hand at making a giant version of my origami apples and fruit. Fortunately the results were fantastic, especially with the addition of some gold leaves, and the same centerpieces were re-used a few days later at a shabbos Brit, which is perfect. Now, if your gears are turning, great, just know that there is a size limit to these origami fruit, namely the width of your paper, and once they get large folding the paper isn't difficult, but expanding the shape can be. So make some origami fruit in a bunch of sizes and colors (I did, actually, as you can guess) and enjoy. They won't last forever, and I believe a few of mine succumbed to having drinks spilled on them, but that is fine, after all sometimes it is great when you don't have to save everything! Ah yes, and it is true, these lavender versions may look more like plums, but that is great too, the more fruit the better. Okay, lets start making some giant origami fruit, perfect for Purim, shabbat, a baby shower, a wedding, a teacher appreciation gift, or just because.

Crocheted Flowers Plus Dishtowel Equals A Great Wallhanging!

Now you too can make a gorgeous crocheted flower wall hanging that is a breeze to whip up and is truly unique. I love the pastel colors for early spring, or baby's room, or you can go with brights or neutrals to make something that looks amazing in your special spot. Come to think of it this could also be great inspiration for a DIY wedding backdrop, right? Of course you'll need a bit of time to crochet all those flowers, but it would be amazing!

A full year ago I shared some fun crocheted flower pillows, that would be nice partners for this wall hanging, but first lets get started!