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It’s the month of Elul, the end of the Jewish Year 5779. We prepare to enter 5780 and dip apples in honey for a sweet year ahead. Elul is a time of contemplation and return as we prepare to enter the high holy days. I feel guilt for my poor neglected blog, perhaps an unanswered email or two to mamaleh, a lack of intentionality in my content. But, beyond that guilt I also feel immense gratitude. If you are reading this right now, that gratitude goes to you for despite my lack of posts on the blog itself, you are still here, reading, commenting, sharing, fueling my creative outlet.

Lately it feels like snapping a single Instagram worthy shot of whatever project I have just managed to finish or recipe I have just baked is about all I can muster.  It’s been a busy year that has felt like a delicate balancing act of work, kids, volunteer commitments (school auction chair!) and just life in general.  Feeding my creative soul while our basement was in the midst of a forced remodel thanks to last fall’s flood was especially difficult without a designated space or access to all of my craft supplies.  We are mostly settled in to the new and improved space and I am slowly getting my craft room organized and have high hopes for a future tour.  At least my sparkle bar is back!

In the spirit of gratitude, I want to share a project from last winter with you.  Our synagogue board president hosted a lovely “Gratitude Open House” to honor the work of volunteers over the past year.  It happened to fall on the afternoon of the first night of Hanukkah.  Given timing, we designed invites featuring my all-time favorite Curious Metallics White Gold Cardstock featuring a hand-stamped menorah embossed in blue and lit using Nuvo Glitter Drops in Honey Gold.  They were then mailed in complimentary PaperSource envelopes in Bluebell complete with last year’s gorgeous Hanukkah stamps.

To add a little something to the event itself and truly sprinkle gratitude like confetti, I was able to dive into ever-growing collection of rubber stamps featuring expressions of thanks and gratitude.  My bestie and I stamped these on more white gold cardstock using navy  (pretty sure we used Versafine Majestic Blue but since it was almost a year ago, I am not 100%, it could have also been Versa Magic Night Sky) and Delicata in Golden Glitz.  If like me, you have a giant collection of stamps, you could totally do a variation of this for Thanksgiving as well.

As the quote on the invitation from Rebbe Nachman of Breslov reads, “Gratitude rejoices with her sister joy and is always ready to light a candle and have a party.”  Wishing you all L’Shana Tova and many sweet new year celebrations.  I look forward to returning to more of what feeds my soul in 5780 and sharing more crafty creations and inspirations