Jewish Designs

I recently did some freelance work for a company that manufactures Jewish themed products.  Here are some of the designs I did.  They were looking for some bright colors and a more fun/funky take on their traditional symbols.

Craft Recipe: Sidewalk Paint

A less-mess approach to painting with children:  Sidewalk Paint.

Kids are messy when they paint but paintings is such a great creative outlet.  Here is the solution:

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup cornstarch
A few drops of food coloring

Mix different colors in the cups of a muffin tin, supply brushes and a bucket of 'eraser' water, and slather on the sunscreen!  Your kids will have fun and your house will stay clean, especially if you hose them off before they come in, or have them run through the sprinklers!

Sketch Book: Dinosaur Magnets

Here are some of the sketches I made of the dinosaurs before they became the magnets I posted here. 

Blessing Gown

When my daughter was expecting her first baby, I was thrilled to find out it would be a girl!  Months went by as I waited and waited to find out her name.  My daughter and son-in-law had a list of a few names but they felt like they needed to see her before they named her.  When my son-in-law called to tell me the baby had been born he said, "We had the baby!  It weighs 8 pounds, 11 ounces and is 21 inches long!"  I begged, "What's her name!?!"  He replied, "Noa Alexander!"  I was confused.  "It's a BOY!"  I was still so confused.  Long story short, ultrasounds are not 100% accurate!

At the time of that phone call I was literally working on a blessing gown for the baby.  A very girly blessing gown.  I had spent months working on it.  I was sick to think that it might have been for nothing, I mean, I had hand beaded pearls all over the thing and sewn pin tucks and ruffles, it was not a boy's blessing gown at all. 

About the gown, my daughter chose this Vogue pattern.  Vogue patterns are HARD!  There is so much detail and the sewing is very high quality.  This gown will last a very long time!  My daughter chose the fabric and embellishments.  She has a very modern, straight lines, simple embellishments kind of style.  I used cream dupioni silk for the dress and jacket.  I hand beaded the jacket and a portion of the dress with tiny cream pearls.  So without further ado, here is the gown:

Gown with Jacket, Front

Jacket, Back

Gown, Front

Gown, Back

Detail from top of Gown, Front

Detail from Jacket edge, Front

So, the boy did not wear it for his blessing, but a few years later that same daughter produced the girl this dress was waiting for.  The dress has a liner and my daughter thought it would be a great tradition to embroider the name and blessing date of each baby blessed in this gown onto it.  Here is a photo of Isca's name:

Detail from Gown Liner

Blessing Day, me and Isca

Blessing Day, my daughter and Isca

*Not shown:  I also made a pair of booties and a head band to match.  My daughter packed them up and when she finds where she put them I'll post them!

Girl's Camp Logo

I created this logo for a local church camp for girls ages 12-18.  I used a free program called Smooth Draw.  Other free programs I like to use include Art Weaver, Google Sketch Up, and Project Dog Waffle.

Project Dog Waffle is my favorite and Smooth Draw is really easy to work with.  All the programs have tutorials which makes it fun to work with!