Flower Press

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon this lovely idea for a DIY flower press, and thought it was a fabulous way to take a bit of the summer buds with us deep into the fall!

While I wasn't exactly up for the entailed carpentry, I really wanted to press some last-of-summer flowers in order for them to be dried, pressed and ready to deck out a Sukkah! I simply resorted to the old-school method of pressing flowers: a heavy book. :)

Freida was happily interested in joining in the activity and exploring the cut flowers (we simply used our almost-wilted ones from the previous Shabbos). All you need to get pressing is a very heavy book or two, some sheets of tissue paper, and stemless flowers. Layer the tissue paper in between the flower layers and pages so as not to mar the book's print. Close the book when finished and set aside out of little hand's reach. Mark your calendar for 2 week's time (so you don't forget your drying florals!), ans stay tuned for some Sukkah-decor crafts involving already-pressed flowers!

This batch of daisies were surprisingly fragrant (I've noticed most florists seem to nuke the flowers natural scents. For allergie reasons, perhaps?), and so I gave Freida a hammer to muck around with and release the flowery fumes.

Let's just say she rather enjoyed this form of destructive play. :)

Happy pressing!

Pickles + Ice Cream

It is with huge excitement that I announce to my very dear cyber-world circle of fellow mamas that Manasseh and I are, God willing, expecting our second child! I'm a little over five months along, and it has been almost impossible to keep this quiet - especially at the beginning when I was feeling exhausted and nauseous and having a hard time keeping up (that also had a lot to do with why I had such a hard time when my husband was MIA this summer). Anyways, being this far in, I seem to be over the difficult start-up and immensely enjoying the great satisfaction that comes along with growing a human being - I'm completely over the moon! While my little kick-boxer is now only about the size of a cantaloupe, the jabs and upper-cuts keep me awake at night smiling myself silly. Plus, there is just nothing as special as waking up to a toddler kissing your growing belly and sharing loving wishes to their growing baby sibling...! We just can't wait to welcome our newest little family member into our home with heaps of hugs, kisses, and baby massages! :)

Thanks for putting up with my insane lack of posts this summer, and sticking with me through it! Since I'm obsessively experiencing serious baby-fever, you can all look forward to plenty of pregnancy posts and newborn baby goodies! Can't wait to share the love! xx

P.S. I have honestly been consuming pints of creamy vanilla ice cream and fresh, crunchy Clausen kosher dills. And that's just the start of foodie weirdness going on in this house....!

Happy Jew Year!

Wishing all you dear, beautiful mamas out there the happiest, healthiest, and sweetest of new years!!

Sending much love to your kitchens, and much comfort to your tired tootsies! :)

I've been feeling so grateful for life and for growth (I can never get over just how much transpires in one year!), and I hope to be granted the serenity to pray in sincere concentration - yet with an open heart and an open mind... Wishing you all the same! May it be a peaceful chag and in turn, a peaceful year. Shana Tova! xx

(I will be observing the holiday of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, the rest of this week and will see you back here on Monday.)

P.S. We found this hilariously perfect plastic shofar in the Target $1 aisle - it was labeled "game horn"! A coat of spraypaint, and some sparkly foam stickers later, Freida has the most girly blinged-out shofar in town! :)

Painting with Pomegranates

Last week Freida and I cut open some pomegranates we picked up at the local Farmer's Market, took out some seeds to munch on, squeezed out some juice to taste, and went on to break out the paintbrushes and water color paper and surprisingly created some of the most beautiful red-tinged magenta strokes of color. The juice paintings dried so wonderfully - leaving behind a sheer glossy laquer (likely due to the fruit juice's sugar content), and Freida was totally blown away by the concept of painting with juice. Her vocalized amazement went like this, "I can't wait to show this art to Daddy! He won't believe we didn't use ANY paint to make it!".

Apple Stamping

We had a little lesson on apple exploration, and whilst cutting open apples of different shapes and sizes I decides to whip out the paint and let her do some apple stamping.

Once there, I cut up some white cardstock and figured she could create some Shana Tova cards. All you need for these cute and colorful litte cards is an apple, paint, cardstock, do-a-dot stampers, and a black marker.

The apple we used was cut lengthwise, and Freida stamped it once on the front of each card. After they dried I let her mess around with dot stampers on the front and back. I then simply outlined the initial apple stamp and wrote some new year's wishes on the front. You can then do whatever you'd like inside the card (I stuck a printed photo of her doing the apple stamping), and give to family and friends (I don't know any Bubby who wouldn't appreciate this sort of crafted nachas!). :)