Rosh Hashanah Table

Since many of us don't take pictures during the holidays, our holiday photos are staged table shots taken before the holiday begins.

Maya Oren-Dahan used the Rosh Hashanah collection and the monthly sketch for this lovely layout of her table. Doesn't the food look delicious?

I wish you all an easy and meaningful fast.

September Sketch Challenge

Thanks again to Jana Eubank for allowing us to use one of her wonderful sketches! Here is September's sketch inspiration:

The layering and scalloped edging on this sketch really caught my eye. Sketches can be interpreted in any way you wish. They can be "down-sized" to make a card or you can even use this one to make an 8 1/2 x 11" page. Be creative!

With Rosh Hashanah approaching, I decided to use the sketch as a guide to make a card:

Lisa Spiegel made this beautiful monochromatic layout with the Rosh Hashanah collection:

Rachel M made a card with the Hanukkah collection:

Now it's your turn to show us your creations using CJS papers and Jana's sketch. Don't forget to link us up so we can see what you've made. Happy scrapping!

Quick New Year Cards

The High Holidays are very early this year. Just as I'm thinking about trying to fit in one more day at the beach, I have to start mailing my Rosh HaShana cards. I don't send a lot of cards, so I would like each one to be special. It's my personal opinion that even the simplest hand-made card is more personal than a store-bought card.Here's my formula for simple but quick handmade cards:

1. Start with high quality cardstock. Remember the recipient will be handling the card, and even someone who has never done paper crafts will appreciate the feel of fine quality.
2. Use beautiful patterned paper and cut it into an interesting shape, or one that includes a greeting.
3. Add one more thing to give the card dimension and that personal feel. The one more thing can be a piece of ribbon, another layer of cardstock matting, or a simple embellishment.

Here's a lovely card from Lisa Spiegel. She used a similar formula, layering several patterned papers from the Rosh HaShana collection



I hope we've given you a few ideas to create some quick Rosh HaShana cards.

L'Shana Tova to you and your family!

High Holiday Hostess Gift

The High Holidays are almost upon us...and this year we will be sharing a Rosh Hashanah dinner with our entire immediate family...all 50 of us. LOL  I struggle with what to bring as a hostess gift as our hostess keeps a kosher home and we do not, and while wine is always welcome, I had a little brainstorm for this year.  I purchased a new pie plate and filled it with fresh apples and Israeli honey and customized it with the Rosh Hashanah papers, stickers and die cuts.  I included my Bubbie's Apples and Honey Crumble recipe in the card, too.

Here is a closer look at the honey jar...

and at the card...

I plan to wrap it all up with cellophane and a bright red ribbon.  I think she'll like it alot.

Here is my Bubbie's Apple Honey Crumble recipe...I like this one a lot because it is non dairy *and* delicious!!

4 MacIntosh or Gala apples; peeled, cored and sliced
¼ cup Honey

2 tablespoons Brown sugar

¼ cup Orange juice concentrate

1 teaspoon Ginger

2 teaspoons Cinnamon

¼ teaspoon Nutmeg

¼ teaspoon Cloves

¾ cup Canola oil

¾ cup Sugar

1 cup Flour

2 teaspoons Baking powder

1 pinch Salt

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 large Egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss apples, honey, brown sugar, orange juice concentrate and spices. Place the mixture in a large pie pan and set aside. In a separate bowl mix the oil, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla and egg to form a thick batter. Drop by spoonfuls onto apple mixture. Sprinkle with sugar if desired.  Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until top is nicely browned. Makes 8 servings.

Hope this makes your High Holiday season a little easier, too.  Let me know if you try the recipe!
Lisa Spiegel

My best friend's daughter came over to scrap with me. I was super excited to be able to use my CJS paper. The best part was that she actually had CHANUKAH pictures. We had a great time playing together and this wonderful group of papers makes any layout look great. We kept it really simple but I think it looks fantastic.

Holiday Traditions

Every family has traditions. In my family, we always made hamantaschen. My mother would mix the dough, my father would roll the dough, and my sister and I would fill the Hamantaschen. As soon as my children were old enough, I started this tradition in our family. However, when both children were diagnosed with a Gluten intolerance, this tradition just seemed too difficult to continue. Over the past year, we have gotten used to eating without wheat and I have become more adventurous with non-wheat flours. So this year, I decided to start the tradition again. The results were delicious.


I used the Crafting Jewish Style Hanukkah papers to scrap the experience. We had many unexpected challenges, including a broken oven, so there was a lot to journal. I have a large format printer and I used it to print the journaling directly onto the background paper.

Guest Designer Andrea Friebus

We are very lucky to have friends like Andrea Friebus. She is a very talented scrapper who's work has been featured in Creating Keepsakes and Scrapbooks Etc magazines, online magazines like ScrapStreet where she has an article in their current issue, as well as the Creating Keepsakes blog. When we asked her to be a Guest Designer for the Crafting Jewish Style blog, she accepted with great enthusiasm. You can see from the projects she created with the Rosh Hashanah collection, she really enjoyed it.


This card is a classic design and sentiment. Andrea combined CJS papers and stickers with Prima flowers and 7 Gypsies Savannah paper.

This card would certainly bring me a sunny day. I love the stitching, and I happen to know Andrea does all her sewing by hand.



Creating monochromatic layouts can be tricky. Andrea does a beautiful job here.

While CJS products are known for their Jewish themes, the paper patterns are so flexible. The next two layouts are about family and school.




Those cut-out bumble bees are totally adorable! Did you notice how Andrea took a journaling sticker and cut it in half to make it a bracket for the title? The mini brads are a great accent.



Thanks to Andrea for doing such a beautiful job showcasing Crafting Jewish Style products.