Event layout: Torah Party

Hi, it's Shir - it's so nice to post a layout here again!

Few months ago, at the end of first grade, my daughter (Ya'ara) had a Torah party: the first graders started to learn Torah. The teachers produced a party, the kids danced, sang - and the parents we busy in taking pictures & be proud :-)

It was important to me to add the invitation, so I chose a "blocks" technique, to fill the gaps. In order to add more interest in the layout, I punched half circles from 2 close papers, and added a smaller circle "inside".

It was a fun layout to make, no doubt about it. What do you think?

I appreciate your comments :-)

Until next time,

Shir

Do you Pinterest?

Have you heard of Pinterest? I know what are you going to say - another time-sucker - and you are absolutely right! But it is a really good one!
Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. As their website says: Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. 
You can create virtual pinboards, add pins, browse and search pinboards created by others, leave comments and repin the things you like. Gone the days of bookmarks, post-it notes and spreadsheets! It is all in one place, organized beautifully by theme, ready for you to get inspired.

I am slowly building my own Pinterest collection, pinning the layouts I love, cards that inspire me, fun crafty projects that I am dying to try and of course I have a board for Jewish crafting.

Here are few other links for you to get inspired:
- our own Lisa's Hanukkah and Jewish Holidays board
- JuliaB has a board for every Jewish holiday!
- another great board curated by Michelle Braun

So please tell me - do you pinterest? How do you organize you inspirational sources? Can't wait to hear!

P.S. If you need a pinterest invite, leave a comment :)

A Joyous Sukkot!!

Sukkot is the only Jewish Holiday where we are commanded to be Joyous...we live and sleep and eat in our Sukkahs and enjoy the blessings of family and togetherness.  I like to decorate for this holiday with Sunflowers because to me, they are a Joyful flower!  The colors of the flowers work well with the harvest-y theme that most of us strive to create in our Sukkahs, too.  In honor, I created this Paper Garland using the Rosh Hashanah paper called Sweet New Year.  The beautiful deep greens, reds and yellows made me think of Sunflowers and the Lulov and the Etrog and I was inspired!!

I found the sunflower shaped doilies at my Dollar Tree store today, hidden amongst all the Thanksgiving merchandise.  I created a pinwheel using the Sweet New Year paper by accordian folding the paper at 1 1/2 inch intervals, then folding the whole sheet of paper in half and glueing the middle folds together using strong adhesive.

I then used the same paper and did the same thing.  I trimmed a little upside down u off the ends so the pinwheel would look more flower-like and glued both sides together so they now looked like this.

I made some custom buttons with my Epiphany Crafts button maker and layered a Sunflower Doily with a button on the main pinwheel.

Then I punched a hole on either side and threaded twine through it and sandwiched the doilies around the twine, two on each side.  I cut circles for the middle and added a custom button in the middle. I decorated  both sides of the doilies and pinwheel so that it looked cute from both sides.  All together the craft took me about 30 mins...and it is something that I will be able to recreate for more impact with other papers.

I hope you enjoyed this Sukkot Craft and that you all have a Joyous Sukkot!

L'Shana Tova

L'Shana Tova everyone!  Juls here.  I hope everyone had a lovely holiday last week and you're gearing up for a final atonement push starting tomorrow night with the Shabbat bonus.  Does that mean we can't eat our delicious round challah?  For us adults, yes, for those who fast.  My kids will still be happy at least.

Here's my Rosh Hashanah LO.

Every year, my aunt and uncle send us some beautiful honey to celebrate the New Year.  My girls LOVE to eat challah and honey and we pretty much dip challah in honey every week for shabbat.  I guess we all hope for a sweet week and it simply is a delicious combination.  This year, my little ones started pre-school and they made their own round challahs for the new year.  I wanted to remember this moment and our family honey tradition.  Needless to say, there was nothing more perfect that the Rosh Hashanah line.  I had a hard time narrowing down the paper choices for this one.

As we head into Yom Kippur, I hope we all can take a moment to count our blessings and ask G-d for forgiveness for our past year's transgressions.  May your fast be quick and easy and may we all be inscribed, once again, in the Book of Life.

G'mar Hatima Tovah

Event Layout

Well, it's sort of an event layout. There was a big event-my son's bar mitzvah. But, it turns out, I don't have the photos from said event. The gorgeous posed photos, filled with friends and family, with the Old City of Jerusalem as the backdrop. Those photos I don't have yet. They had to make their way from Israel, and I believe they are now somewhere in New Jersey. (I will track them down, now that one big holiday has been checked off the list.)  During the big event I took two...count  them, two...photos. The rest I left to the professional.

Anyhow, not yet having the main photos, has allowed me to tell a small little story from the big event. Namely, how after I worked and worked on the benchers, and then reworked the benchers, we left them in the car, and it was too far away to go back and retrieve them. Well, we could have, but one of us would have had to miss a big chunk of our son's bar mitzvah, and we were not willing to do that.

On the way home, as I looked in the back seat of the car, and sighed at the basket full of benchers, my husband said, "You should take a picture of them. That will one day be part of the story of Max's bar mitzvah." He definitely gets the point of this scrapbooking thing.

I used some Chanukah papers, and a smattering of the Rosh Hashana papers and stickers as well. I love those stickers. They always look good, no matter what I do with them.

Shana Tova, everyone!

Crafting Jewish Style wishes you a Happy and Sweet New Year!

I like setting the holiday table early. This way every time I pass the dining room I feel that I am more prepared than I really am. For Rosh Hashanah I usually fill vessels with apples, pomegranates and other fruit for an easy and autumnal themed centerpiece. I fill out the arrangement with hydrangeas from the garden and/or  mums or some other Fall flowers from Shoprite.

For the place settings I've purchased mini pomegranates and placed a die cut circle with a Shanah       Tova sticker on it on top of the pomegranate. I find that pomegranates make great decorations and we love eating them both for their symbolism and because they taste great! I can't wait to try them     in Maya's recipe.                                                                                                                                        

That's it for my quick, easy and elegant holiday tablescaping ideas.

 It's hard to believe that another year has once again flown by. Its a time of reflection as well as a time of hope and prayers. In the midst of all the cooking, baking and mundane preparations (Does everyone have ironed shirts for shul? Did I cook enough food?...) I send up small requests (OK, big ones too) that this year should truly be a good and peaceful one for everyone.
I wish you all a year of happiness, peace, good health, prosperity and may all your prayers be answered for the good!

Tzedakah

Hello everyone.  It is Cassie.  For Rosh HaShanah this year I decided to make a little box to place Tzedakah during Rosh HaShanah.  I used Crafting Jewish Style's fun line of Rosh HaShana papers and I am really please with how it turned out.