Author Archives: madebymamaleh

My Jewish Valentines

| | Posted in Handmade Card, Rubber Stamps, Valentine's Day | Tagged , ,

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!  This post is a day later than I’d intended but I spent yesterday getting a steroid shot in my hip (and yes, I am only 34!).  All I have to say about that is OUCH!  And, no, not a fun way to spend the day.  So, as a result this post is a day late and most of the cards I am about to share with you are still sitting by the front door awaiting a mail drop.  But, it’s the thought that counts, right?

As I mentioned in last week’s post, take it or leave it, I love Valentine’s Day.  I think it’s a great excuse to remind people you care about them and of course yet another time to break out the card-making supplies.  Kveller had a fantastic piece yesterday: Should Jews Celebrate Valentine’s Day?.  If you want more intellectual food for thought, check it out.  Today I wanted to share with you my attempt at adding a Jewish twist in this year’s homemade Valentine’s cards by incorporating some Hebrew.  Now, I have to tell you, I LOVE alphabet stamps!  I have too many sets to admit in writing.  But, Hebrew alphabets are a totally different story than English ones and nearly impossible to find in rubber stamp form.  So, I have been on the hunt for quite a while and was very pleased to luck out and get this now out of production set still shrink wrapped on eBay complete with book and packaged in a wood box.

These, along with my Teresa Collins Blingage Alphabet and some classic Valentine colors were the inspiration for my cards:

Love/Ahava Valentine

Ahava Love handmade card

Ahava Love card

What do you think?  I totally love that these could really be used for any occasion where you want to say I love you!  Now I need to start thinking about Purim projects…oy!

Valentine’s Day: Mamaleh-style

| | Posted in Gifts, Jewelry, Valentine's Day, Wedding | Tagged , , ,

We’ve said Happy New Year to the trees and are now contemplating Purim costumes but before we get there, it’s time for the red and pink heart-filled holiday of Valentine’s Day.  I realize in some Jewish circles celebrating (St.) Valentine’s Day is a no-no and even if it’s not, there are those who simply refuse to buy into a totally commercial holiday.  I fall into neither camp – to me, it’s just a nice excuse to remind folks we love ’em, combat the winter blahs with a little color and of course it’s a great excuse for a little card-making and/or shopping.  Some of my earliest memories are gluing down doilies and applying foiled red heart stickers to family valentines.

It is only fitting that throughout this post you will see the Hebrew word for love: ahava(אהבה).  Stay tuned for some homemade Valentine cards with this in mind as well.  But for now, in case you want to give your Valentine’s Day a little bit of a MOT twist, here are a few gift ideas (so just forward this link to the loves in your life if something strikes your fancy).

  • Keeping with the theme of Ahava, you could literally get some AHAVA, some of the best skin-care, straight from the Dead Sea.  Their hand cream is my fave!  They even have a nice men’s line for the guys in your life.

  • And for your friends still looking for their funny Valentine, you can always go with this from Modern Tribe. 🙂

Hopefully you now have a few unique MOT Valentine’s ideas for whoever you want to share a little love with (including yourself!)

Note: I was not compensated for this post in any way.  I don’t think any of these companies even know I exist (except for past purchases from some).  This is all just stuff I like and hope you do too 🙂

Quick MLK Day Crafting: DIY Custom Kitchen Art

| | Posted in Decor, Misc | Tagged

DIY Kitchen Art

It’s MLK Day and I’ve been home with a cold all day.  My son got a couple extra episodes of BusyTown today.  Not a very fun way to spend a day off. I was feeling a tad better this afternoon so decided to do a little quick crafting.  I’ve been wanting a little piece of art for the shelf in our breakfast nook (same room with the giant NOSH letters on the wall) and after spending a while visualizing it in my head (often a very long process), I was finally ready to just knock it out.  I love it!  Exactly what I wanted!

Continue reading for more details

Kid-Friendly Tu B’Shevat Mini Art

| | Posted in Crafts, Decor, Kids, Tu B'Shevat | Tagged , , ,

Tu B'Shevat Mini Canvas Art

Tu B’Shevat is one of those Jewish holidays that many of us probably don’t even realize is happening unless we are looking at our Jewish calendar or have kids in religious school.  A minor holiday, literally the 15th of the month of Shevat, Tu B’Shevat celebrates the New Year of the Trees.  (And, just a little known fact, it’s actually one of four new years observed on the Jewish calendar.  In Israel, Tu B’Shevat is much like Arbor Day in the U.S. and is marked by the planting of trees and ecological awareness.  In Jewish tradition, Tu B’Shevat is often marked with a seder (or ritual meal) where fruits and nuts symbolic of Israel are eaten.

For the first time in my life, we’re actually talking about Tu B’Shevat in our house:  My son’s Sammy Spider calendar has a nice recipe for trail mix and a picture of a tree.  His preschool class is having a seder.  We’ve been reading our PJ Library books about the holiday.  Our temple’s Young Families’ group (of which I’m co-chair) is having a special brunch.  So, with all of that going on, I felt like we needed to make a little something since what’s a holiday without a little a decoration.  I wanted something kid-friendly to make yet also polished enough to sit out on my mantel and look sharp.

A while back, during one of my craft store runs (probably Michael’s), I came across these cute mini canvases and got a couple of sizes as well as a mini easel, thinking that they’d be great for changing holidays/seasons.  So, I decided to take the 4×4 canvas and create a little mini Tu B’Shevat art with my son’s help of course.

Tu B'Shevat Kid-Friendly Art

First step was to find just the right tree in the Silhouette Online Store to cut out with my Cameo.  Now, if you don’t have a die-cutter, don’t worry, I am sure you could easily find a pre-cut tree at the craft store or you could freehand one with scissors or an exacto.   I chose this tree branch lace and then using Silhouette Studio I erased the edges and size it to fit my canvas. Next, I cut it out of Paper Trey Ink Dark Chocolate cardstock.  I then coated the mini canvas with Matte Mod Podge using a foam brush and applied the tree, trimming the edges as necessary.  Once it was all lined up, I painted more Mod Podge on top completely covering the tree and allowed it to dry.  The application of the Mod Podge is a totally kid friendly activity since there is no precision required, just make sure the canvas is covered.

TU B'Shevat Art Canvas

Shades of Green (from left to right): Martha Stewart Mint Chip Pearl, Martha Stewart Scottish Highlands High Gloss, Martha Stewart Putting Green Pearl & Folk Art Citrus Green

For the next step, I selected four different shades and finishes of acrylic paint since I wanted depth of color and texture.  To apply the leaves, rather than have my son dip his finger in the paint (and get too much on), I applied it to his finger using a foam brush and then let him fingerprint the leaves.  No special order, just mix up how often you print each color. We both took turns doing this and going all over the top of the tree as well as the top and sides of the canvas.

Kid-Friendly Tu B'Shevat Mini Canvas

Once the tree was filled in, I left this to dry for a bit as I worked on the final piece, a die-cut banner that said “Happy Tu B’Shevat!” which I created using the print and cut feature in Silhouette Studio on kraft cardstock.  I then positioned this where I wanted it using the Mod Podge and gave the whole piece a couple more coats to finish it off and ta-da: kid-friendly, yet simple and chic mini-canvas decor for Tu B’Shevat for year’s to come!

Kid-Friendly Tu B'Shevat Canvas

Dreidel Spin Art Thank You Notes

| | Posted in Gifts, Handmade Card, Hanukkah, Kids | Tagged , , ,

Dreidel Spin Art by Kiwi Crate

Ack!  Where has the time gone?  It’s already January 13th and we still haven’t finished our holiday thank yous (and Hanukkah was so early, it’s even worse)!  Oh well, I figure as long as they get ’em before Valentine’s Day, we’re in good shape and better late than never, right?  I was taught from a young age the importance of writing a nice note of thanks for a gift and I am trying to install the same in my son, Avi, even at age 3 1/2. One thing that I think helps make the process a bit more fun is to make the cards yourselves.  If you recall, we had a lot of fun doing the dreidel spin art from our Hanukkah Kiwi Crate back in December.  I saved all of those little paintings thinking they’d come in handy for something like thank you notes and sure enough they did.

Hanukkah thank you note

The process was simple and kid-friendly.  Starting with some nice colored A2 notecards from Memory Box (I get all mine at Impress in Seattle), Avi and I used a glue stick to glue down the paintings.  After gluing them we put them under a stack of books to help them lay flat.  Meanwhile we stamped “thank you” on some scrap white cardstock in turquoise and trimmed it up into cute little squares -I realized just how great my mini guillotine  paper cutter is for little hands (with adult help of course!)  Then we attached these using my favorite adhesive and finished off the look with some scattered star sequins glued on.  And to explain the art like any good artist’s print, I put a little handwritten “Dreidel Spin Art by Avi” under each of the paintings.  Absolutely perfect kid thank yous!

Hanukkah thank you notes from dreidel spin art

Challenging Myself and Sending Love from Seattle

| | Posted in Challenge, Handmade Card, Misc | Tagged , , ,

Today’s post is something new for me.  I have loved making cards ever since I was a little kid gluing doilies on Valentines.  Now in the age of the blog-o-sphere, I follow a bunch of fun paper-crafting sites that give me lots inspiration and ideas for all sorts of things, not just cards.  Sometimes they have crafting challenges to inspire you to stretch your creative muscles.  I’ve found it a bit intimidating, never sure if my photos or designs are quite good enough to compete but I decided to give it a go and challenge myself to try something new. So, taking inspiration from two challenges, I am diving in.  Over at Runway Inspired Challenge (I absolutely love the melding of fashion and paper-crafting going on here by the way), the idea was to design a card based on this spring fashion:

While the challenge over at Moxie Fab World, Challenge #49 from Creative Card Challenges Week: was to create your own background paper.

So, drum roll please, here’s what I came up with:

Runway Inspired Challenge#27 card

For the background, I took my Rubber Soul rain stamp and Brilliance Starlite Black to create my patterned paper on my all-time favorite shimmery cardstock: Curious Metallics White Gold.  Now, I am generally one to just eyeball things when it comes to stamping, but for creating a background I used my stamp positioner to get it just right since for a background you have to line up the stamp over and over.  Then, using a little scrap of a floral-patterned washi paper that’s almost like vellum (sadly, the photos don’t do it justice), I stamped my little Amuse Art Stamps Tiny Butterfly (no longer available alone but new version here) in Fresh Ink Turquoise and Pool.  After adhering the butterfly panel, I then stamped Sending Love from Seattle by Impress in Turquoise over the top of both and embossed it using clear embossing powder.  A little of the powder stuck to the raindrops so I ended up deciding to embrace this and filling a few in with Diamond Glaze for that true glistening rain effect.  And last but not least, two little pale blue gems for some extra sparkle!

Here’s a close up of the raindrops:

ric#27

I think it sort of embodies Seattle at the moment…suffering through the onslaught of winter rain so that eventually we can find the colorful butterflies of spring.  What do you think?  How’d I do with the two challenges?  Have you ever entered a crafting challenge?

Random Acts of Kindness 2013

| | Posted in Gifts, Handmade Card, Misc, Random Acts | Tagged , ,

Happy New Year!

I am not really one for New Year’s resolutions.  I generally take stock of the more serious stuff at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I am constantly trying to keep on track with Weight Watchers and the gym so there’s really no resolution to be had in that department either, I just keep on keepin’ on.  Last year, my goal for the secular new year was to try one new recipe a week and give my neglected cookbook collection a workout.  I tracked this for a while and then slowly stopped writing it down but did keep some of the momentum going throughout the year so overall I’d say it was a success.

As 2012 came to a close and I filled in my new birthday calendar (I printed out an awesome 11×17 one from Lemon Squeezy), I was originally thinking my goal for 2013 was simply to mail old-fashioned snail mail cards for people’s birthdays and anniversaries.  It’d definitely be an improvement to the Facebook birthday wishes that everyone seems to have defaulted to these days but still, it’s sort of expected.  So, I am upping the ante – not only will I remember these special days but I will also commit more simply random acts of kindness this year since the best cards or treats are the ones that are completely unexpected.  A couple of months ago my friend Samantha sent me the cutest card just to say thanks for being her workout buddy and give me some encouragement – it made my day if not my week.  So, for 2013, I want to spread some of that kindness and cheer.

For my first random act, I decided it was the perfect excuse to pull out my brand-new Cup of Wishes stamps by Mama Elephant.

I stamped the cup and tea bag on some animal print paper using my Versafine Onyx Black and then carefully cut it out.  Then I stamped the Warm and Thoughts using VersaMagic Cloud White to get that steamy effect on a plum-colored A Muse notecard and rounded the corners.  Then I attached the cup using foam squares and tied a little ribbon on the top.  Now all I need to do is throw in a little Starbucks card  (I still have a few of the Mini Moments cards that are perfect for this endeavor) and I am all set to commit random act #1.  Now the only question is who will be the recipient…

What about you?  Any resolutions or fun endeavors for 2013?

Challah from a mix??

| | Posted in Challah, Shabbat | Tagged , , ,

In the past year, I have fully embraced baking my own challah. There is absolutely no comparison to warm, homemade challah, fresh from the oven so we haven’t had store-bought challah in our house for quite a while. My current favorite recipe (the Beigel Family Challah from Joan Nathan’s The Foods of Israel Today) goes through three rises and it’s not a short endeavor. So, I was really excited and curious when my sister-in-law (of the awesome site Mock-Off) said she’d read about a company that had developed challah mixes.

But could challah from a mix really be as good as from-scratch? I contacted them to see if they’d be willing to send me some mixes to try out and share with you. Tribes-A-Dozen‘s clever motto is “Break bread, not tradition.” The whole idea is that by using the Voila! Hallah mixes, you can make a traditional challah in under two hours.  I love the idea of making it more accessible to the modern family! They offer three varieties: Traditional, Wholey Wheat and Spelt, all available on Amazon and some East Coast supermarkets.

Challah mixes

Definitely an “A” for packaging; I think the cute boxes would be great for gift baskets. Inside, the boxes include a yeast packet and mix while the back of the box has detailed instructions. I decided to start with the Traditional. For this one, you need eggs, oil, and, water. Sesame or poppy seeds (for the top) and sugar (for the egg wash) are optional. The preferred method for mixing is with a stand mixer although it does say it can be done with a bread machine or by hand. My Kitchen-Aid is my challah making friend for sure! After following the mixing directions, the dough appeared as in photo 2 below. It was definitely much stickier than my go-to challah recipe. The first rise is only 10 minutes and it did not rise all that much. After the 10 minute rise, I braided the challah and applied the egg wash (which I did add a little sugar to). It was definitely much stickier dough than I am used to working with but I didn’t have any trouble rolling it out on my silicone mat.

Tribes-A-Dozen Traditional Hallah

After 45 minutes of rising on the parchment-lined baking sheet (again little visible size increase), it then baked for about 25 minutes and came out this lovely golden color (picture 4 sitting atop my awesome bread warmer stone). I do have to say that he beautiful color is thanks in part to the yummy farm fresh eggs from my friend Andie’s Farm. Now that we’ve switched to farm fresh eggs, we won’t go back. The difference is amazing. Andie’s even done a comparison on her blog if you need further evidence of the merits of farm fresh.

As the Traditional was rising/baking, I set to work on the Wholey Wheat and Spelt. Both call for the same additional ingredients as the Traditional along with some honey. The directions vary from the Traditional and call for longer rise times, so be sure to follow them carefully.

Wheat & Spelt Hallah Mixes by Tribes-a-Dozen

Even after the longer rise, both were quite sticky but again manageable on the silicone mat with some flour for forming the loaves. Now I’m not sure if I didn’t braid them tightly enough or what but as you can see in the photos below, the braids lost their definition after baking. I looked through the tips on Tribes-A-Dozen’s page and couldn’t find anything that might explain this.

Spelt and Wheat Challahs

Here are all three nice and toasty in the bread basket with my warming stone:

Tribes-A-Dozen Challahs

I’d note that each box says it makes one large or two small loaves or 8 rolls. My experience was more like 1 medium loaf per box (at least in comparison to the recipe I usually use which makes three small loaves). With the rising and baking all done, it was time for the biggest test of all: TASTE. Here are all three sliced:

Tribes-A-Dozen Hallahs from mix

They were all good but definitely not as good as scratch. I told my husband and our friends doing the taste testing (on Christmas of course!) that the comparison should be whether they are better than store-bought. The consensus was they are better than your average grocery store challah but probably not better than a decent bakery. The texture on the Traditional just wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for and look for in a challah. Although you do get the added benefit of getting them warm from the oven which is a big plus. The stand-out was the Wholey Wheat, which despite it’s undefined braids, had a really yummy wheat flavor and great texture – much better than the whole wheat challahs I’ve made before. So, if you are not a challah purist, I think the wheat is definitely worth a try. As for the others, I’m on the fence. I think that if you are new to baking bread and/or challah, they are a good way to ease in on a smaller scale. They also do simplify the process and shorten it time-wise which is a selling point too. Like I mentioned before, I also think they’d be sweet in a housewarming gift basket along with some dish towels and measuring cups or other kitchen essentials.

What do you think?  Would you try challah from a mix?

HAPPY NEW YEAR! L’Chaim!

P.S. In case you missed the post on Facebook, Heidi was the winner of the Michael’s gift card.  Remember to follow Mamaleh on FB for more fun posts and tips in between blog updates.  Just be sure to click show in News Feed under the like button so that you don’t miss any posts.

Note: I was not financially compensated for this post. I received Tribes-A-Dozen mixes  free for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.