Homemade Soma cube puzzle

The Soma cube is a 3D puzzle that consists of 7 pieces of different shapes. These pieces must be assembled into a 3x3x3 cube. There are 240 distinct ways to solve the puzzle. I made a home-made Soma cube puzzle out of small, about 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 cm (9/16 x 9/16 x 9/16 inches) colored wooden cubes, like those you can buy at arts and crafts shops. I didn't have to buy them, since we have been using such cubes for a long time — the kids like playing with them. Only 27 cubes in total are needed. I just glued them together with a wood glue, and here we go: now my children can enjoy this amazing puzzle, they solve it or build various 3D shapes out of its pieces: castles, animals, etc.

Some interesting resources about the Soma cube: Soma cube in Wikipedia, Soma cubes, and a lot of stuff on the Soma cube.

Happy birthday quilling cards

As usual, I used paper filigree to create greeting cards for two family members, whose birthdays are in March and April. Both of the cards have a very similar composition. To be honest, I like the blue one much better, although I made them almost at the same time. The inscription on the pink card is not so good, I hand wrote it with a thin brush and acrylic paint. As for the blue card, I think a slightly lighter bird would be better. In any case, there are a lot of things I have to learn and master :)

Handmade clay hamsa with flowers and berries

I would like to show you my new clay Hamsa. Hamsa is a charm in the shape of hand that is said to protect against the "evil eye". In Arabic hamsa means five. For this Hamsa I used Keramikal material, as always. I made it using the method I described in my previous post about Hamsa. It's decorated with flowers, leaves and bugs, too, although the design is different. For some reason I like the bunches of brightly red berries on it :) The hanger is made of macramé. You can read more about Hamsa in Wikipedia.

Kids' quilling: Lion greeting card

My older daughter made this greeting card with a quilled lion for dad's birthday. It's not the same level as my present, of course :), but I think it's still very cute and beautiful. I helped her with the rolling, she assembled the quilling and decorated the card. I think I've seen a similar lion design on the Web, but don't remember where.

And this one is a creation by another family member — my husband. He not only respects my passion to quilling, but wanted to try himself. He said he had a wonderful teacher :) As far as I understand, he liked quilling very much, but has very little time for it. As for me, I'm very pleased with his greeting card :)

Altered item: Quilling-decorated box with a folk art motif

My attempt to convert a melted cheese container into a jewelry box :) The purpose was to practice paper filigree, as you can guess. For this design I used a traditional motif of Opishnyanska painting (Ukraine), although the colors are different.

Day and Night birthday cake for twins

About two years ago I had to make a cake for a kindergarten graduation party of my twins — the boy and the girl. I didn't have much time for something exceptional, but still wanted a special and unforgettable cake. Also, I wanted that each of my younger children can feel very special and unique. We had a few ideas, but eventually had chosen this one — a cake that symbolizes the Day and Night, Water and Earth (like Yin and yang for kids :). So, everybody got their own special half, although both make the whole cake :) All in all, the twins liked it, and that's what really matters. I used a sponge cake and some colored cream for decorating.

Quilled butterfly in a shadowbox

This quilled butterfly was inspired by the awesome creations of Claire Choi. It's a birthday present for my husband. I printed out a photo of a Papilio ulysses butterfly and used it to draw the pattern. The both wings were assembled at the same time on a cork board, covered with wax paper. As always, I used hand-cut paper strips.

Around the butterfly I added my favorite double fringed flowers. The design is framed into a 14x14 cm (5 1/2 x 5 1/2'') deep IKEA frame.

Miniature quilled cat and mouse

I must say I just can't help doing paper filigree! It looks like this art has no limits. Or at least its limits are far, far away :) Here's something for kids' fun, a change from the flowers and butterflies. These cat and mouse miniatures are really easy to make, I was able to quill them for a gift in a very short time.

Folded rose in a flowerpot, quilled miniature

I wanted to show in detail the quilled rose from "Miniature flower pots" many of you liked so much. Just to remind you, its height is about 6 cm (2 3/8 inch).

Homemade Purim costumes: Ladybug, Butterfly, Spider

This year my kids wanted to dress up as bugs for Purim. I bought costume hats at IKEA and made the rest myself.