Blog awards

First off, I must say that I don't like blog awards. They require a great deal of skills in public relations, which I'm not good at. Having said that, I'm sincerely grateful to Juhi, Monica, AlenysWka, Konul and Rina for nominating my blog. Thank you!

Book: Nature Printing

The book "Nature Printing" is not about paper filigree :) This is a wonderful art & craft book and kids' crafts book, though, and I'd like to share with you my impressions of it.

Homemade kaleidoscope toy

The kaleidoscope is one of those toys that make me nostalgic for my childhood. Today, just before children go back to school, I'd like to show how to make a homemade kaleidoscope toy. On the photo above you can see samples of what's seen through the kaleidoscope I've built with my kids. Each pattern is enclosed in a black circle because of the way I photographed them. In reality though, you should see continuous patterns throughout the field of view.

Rosh Hashanah cards with quilling

Just like one year ago, I'd like to share a few ideas for greeting cards for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. On these cards you can see two words in Hebrew: שנה טובה (shana tova). They mean "a good year", this is the traditional greeting on Rosh Hashanah. Pomegranates, apples and honey are all symbolic foods.

Bat birthday cake

I made this bat cake for my twins' third birthday. This happened about a year and a half ago, though. Such a cake is very easy to make: its components are cut out of a round sponge cake and coated with chocolate cream. The eyes, ears and teeth were made of marzipan, although colored cream or candies can be used as well.

I found this great idea in Kids' Party Cakes. Maybe someone will find it useful, especially now, when Halloween is almost here :)

Quilled white dandelions and raspberries, framed art

This is my new dandelion project, the last one out of three designs with dandelions I planned to do (the other two are Dandelions and violets and Dandelion). If you wondered how I make the seed-heads, here are the instructions:

Turquoise clay hamsa with a template

Paper quilling isn't my only passion. I also like making Hamsa wall hangings (Chamsa, Chamsah). Here's a brand new one. I wrote about making these decorations in a number of posts, for example here is a short tutorial.