My "home" for unwanted Judaica.....

So, whenever I go thrift store shopping and see anything Judaica, I "have" to buy it.  I simply can't leave it at the thrift store, thinking that it will go unloved another moment!  We have a new Goodwill store that is on the way to the post office.  And since I'm ebaying right now....I'm always on my way to the post office! Such an excuse, huh?

Today, I found a candle holder.  It was horribly rusted over.  I should have taken the "pre" picture, but forgot.  It took an hour of sanding with 600 and 400 grit paper, but the results are well worth the effort:

So that cost me 43 cents!  Then I remembered a serving plate I had found quite some time ago at another thrift store and pulled it off the shelf and cleaned it up:

Today's second find was a heating thing - put the candle inside and pot on top.  Probably an incense burner, but I found it charming, especially at just 45 cents!

I do love to make "dust corners" - little scenes of things I collect - that are good at collecting dust!

but that looked too plain, so I added candles and some flowers and I think this is the beginning of a new dust corner in my home!

While in Ft Lauderdale, Ruth took me to numerous thrift stores.  I got one photo in a brand new goodwill store down there, I swear it looked like a Dillards or Macy's!  Quite impressive!  The home goods section looked just like a Hobby Lobby.  But of course, they told me I couldn't take photos.  :o)

So, I am now a home for unwanted Judaica.....much better than leaving it at the Goodwill store!  Wonder what I'll find on my next thrifting trip?  It's always such a fun surprise!!!

Be sure to check out these links:
My Etsy Store
My ebay auctions

Finding (making) exactly what you want

I was on a mission to complete the wall with my personal watercolor paintings.  So we went shopping at my favorite little store in Lafayette, called Elizabeth's Embellishments.  If you are ever around Denver, this is a "must stop" shop!

I wanted a dove, a bird, something very detailed.  Here's the back side because (of course) I forgot to photo the front before I started in on it!

The front looked pretty much the same, but I needed it completely white....yet I wanted to retain the swirls.  So I sprayed a layer of white primer on it, then a layer of clear gloss.  Added diamond stickles glitter on the embossed edges and ended up with exactly what I wanted!

The details matched the original perfectly:

and now my wall is complete!

Life is good when you find (make) exactly what you want!!!

A great place to shop!

5 years ago when were in Jerusalem, we happened onto this little shop in the Old City:

Shorashim

A gift shop.  A Biblical shop.  A place of learning and dialogue.  They will actually close their doors in the middle of the day and teach a class, hold a discussion, anything you need. It's a place to debate and discover the Torah.

Tons of wondeful jewelry

and you can order it online here:

Jewelry

I bought this pendant - and have had more compliments than almost any piece of jewelry I've ever purchased!

You can order it here


Many other items here

I also bought a ring, bracelet and another pendant that they don't have online.  Like I said, I left most of my shekels in the Old City!

I absolutely love little shops like this.  If you ever go to Jerusalem, be sure to look them up.  Just tell them the "soap" girls from Colorado sent you!  We needed non-allergenic soap 5 years ago and they found some for us!  I still have the jewelry I bought then, and I'm happy to have added to my "Shorashim" collection this year!

The real meaning of life.

I always thank mom on my birthday for giving me life. What an amazing mom, role model, friend, and confidant she has been through the years. And so much fun to be around. But this year, since I'm doing Jewish genealogy for the Cotopaxi Colony, I wanted to learn a little more about my birthday.

I was born at 5:30 pm on September 29, 1951, at Riverview Hospital in Noblesville, Indiana.  Before Daylight Savings Time.  And why do I care about any of that?

At 5:30 pm in Indiana, it was the 29th of Elul, 5711 in Jerusalem, 11:30 pm.  That is Erev Rosh Hashana - New Year's Eve in other words in Israel.

In the states, it was still Parashas Nitzavim.  The scripture was Deuteronomy 29:9 - 30:20  The day that God established His covenant with Israel.

WOW!  I could not have a more wonderful birthday date.

The words Parashat Nitzavim means "you are standing".

Now, I know that because of the Hebrew calendar, 9/29 does not always fall on this occassion.  As with this year, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are over and Today is the 21st of Tishrei, 5771 which is Sukkos VII, Hoshana Raba.  the day of the final sealing of judgment.  A guten kvitel - a wish that the verdict is positive.

Funny how 9/29/1951 never had much meaning to me - other than I was a year older and there were presents, a cake, and family around.  But to know now that I was born on the eve of the Jewish New Year, the day God established his covenant with Israel - makes this a huge day that I will rejoice in every year, no matter what day it falls on in the Hebrew calendar.

Deut 30:

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life — if you and your offspring would live —²⁰ by loving the Lord your God, heeding His commands, and holding fast to Him. For thereby you shall have life and shall long endure upon the soil that the Lord swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.

I have had 59 amazing years of life.  I'm expecting this one to be even better!

Art notes:  The top 2 pendants have inserts made with metal clay.  All use Nunn Designs Patera blanks.  All use Peg Harper's conditioned Kato Clay and swarovsky crystals from Creative-Crystal.

Peg's Poly Play Day

My good friend, Peg Harper, came to play yesterday.  We always have the best time ever.  I had told her I wanted to make pendants to gift to friends in Israel.  Peg always has the most wonderful ideas!!!  We used Kato clay that Peg had conditioned and added leafing to, so it's all blingie and beautiful.  Then we added swarovski crystals and covered with a layer of Envirotex lite.  The Envirotex takes 72hours to cure, but after 12 hours, you can start to photo them....just not assemble them into pendants.  I am so delighted with the results....I'm photoing 12 hours later!  

Peg designed all 4 of these - aren't they gorgeous???

These blanks came from The Bally Bead Company


The blanks are base metal, silver.  Peg painted the backgrounds with Viva inks.  The inks don't burn off when you bake the clay.  We used liquid Kato to adhere the clay to the blanks.

 My blogger pal, Shari Wallace, turned me on to these blanks.  I just love blogging.  I meet the most wonderful people ever!

So Ruth, what do you think about using Kato Clay for our pre-UTM project???  I know - who's thinking that far ahead?  ha ha!

 

You can see all the tiny crystals embedded in this last one.  Just so much fun.  These are intended to be worn as a pendant....but I think they could be used as decorative items as well.  I may cut the top loop off one and adhere it to a journal!


Stay tuned the next few days as I post different designs - not all are Judaica.  I just started with the best!  Peg Harper - Kato Clay artist extraordinare!!!  Thanks Peg for such a fun day!!!


PS.  Today, Tuesday, 1 day before I turn 59.  I am trying my darnest to stay positive about this....but ONE year away from SIXTY?????  I don't feel it.  I don't think I act it (most days).  I don't want it.  So I've been throwing a little temper tantrum this week.  Kerry is just laughing so hard - he's a whole 2  1/2 years younger than I am.  I just tell myself that I act 10 years younger than he does!  Age is not a number, it's a state of mind.  Can I simply say I'm turning 39 tomorrow?  It would make me so much happier!  LOLOL!!!

Assemblage

Assemblage is the artistic process in which a 3-dimensional artistic composition is made from putting together found objects.

or

a collection of persons or things, as in a gathering

or

the act of assembling: the state of being assembled

I love assembling charms to make something wonderfully fun to wear. Sometimes, it's just something so simple, like taking apart a single earring that belonged to Grandma Myrtle and putting it on a chain (it's a mustard seed):

or slipping a chain through the eye of a charm - anyone can do that!

Don't say to me "I'm not artistic" because I can fix that in 2 seconds flat! LOL!!!

But some days, I like to go for the more complex, like soldering sterling silver chams to a chain. Yes, Ellen, this is the chain I JUST bought! (gasp!!!) No, I'm not afraid to alter something that's brand new! Plain chain? Not for me!!!

And this is another brand new necklace, actually 2 necklaces and a set of earrings that I merged together into one fabulous piece. Hearts and stars because I love the Star of David. My favorite so far today - I don't see how I can top this!

Judaica jewelry. Again, I'm not Jewish. But I do love the Star of David and I'm off to Israel in less than 3 weeks, so I'm making pretty little things to wear!

And now I've realized that I need to make some things to give away. I had a goal to get the garage back into order by tomorrow. I think I'll miss that goal - it's so much more fun to play!

Making my own scrapbook papers

They say there is nothing new under the sun, but there just might be! I have been looking for spiritual scrapbook paper, religious, judaica.....and there's not much out there I've found that I like. So I'm working on making my own. Not sure I'm happy with the depth or color on these, but it's a start. And one has to start somewhere!

I combined elements from some of mom's watercolor paintings with backgrounds I have made, played around in photoshop and here's what I have so far:

Edited from the poster background I made

Done with the cricut elements from the poster I made:
More of mom's paintings:

the easiest one - photoshop brushes for most of it:

Much, much work to be done - but I'll print these and see how they turn out. I learned one thing today - if you can't find it, simply create it! I may never buy another piece of paper!

Altered Chicos

I love Chicos. But you know, after awhile, I get tired of jewelry. So I thought I'd share how I altered 3 necklaces that I picked up a few years back at Chicos at a clearance table.


For this one, I added a few star of david charms:

I didn't take "before" photos, but I think you can tell what it looked like

Since these were on the sale table, I'm not real sure if they were complete.

I added a lot of seashells and beads to this one and more charms:

a tree of life over a chai

I added some wood beads, too

This one hangs down almost to my waist. The original pendant was just the top stars and moon and oval. The angel and rectangle were on another pendant, I added the star of david charms.

Adding charms and beads is like layering a card or scrapbook page. The more there is to look at, the better it looks. I had worn each of these necklaces before and no one even noticed them. But since altering them - I get compliments every time I wear them!

So go take a look at the jewelry in your closet and see what you can add, combine, mix up and alter. You'll be amazed at what you can do!

Shabbat Shalom

A peaceful sabbath to you.

And while I am by no means a watercolor artist, I did love doing this painting. You won't believe this, but I cut out designs with my cricut, then traced around them, then painted. OK, the dove - I drew that freehand. Not too bad, huh?

You really have to click on it to enlarge it to see the colors:



I know that I have much to learn about this medium. But I will tell you, when I paint, I truly step into the right side of my brain. It actually scares me because I lose all sense of time. With that - absolutely no stress, not a care in the world, in fact, I'm not sure I even know the world exists. It is a complete escape. It's a good thing Kerry gets hungry and pulls my brain back into reality! LOL!!!

Shabbat Shalom - may you have a peaceful sabbath. May Jehovah bless and keep you.

Atonement

this evening begins Yom Kippur, a day of atonement. Amends or reparation made for an injury or wrong. It is the most solemn of all holidays. While I'm not Jewish, I think the concept of setting aside a 24 hour period to fast, make amends, and pray is just not that bad of an idea..

Leviticus 23:27 decrees it a day of rest. So, from sunset tonight til sunset tomorrow night. Rest. Fast. Pray. Make atonement.

כז אַךְ בֶּעָשׂוֹר לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי הַזֶּה יוֹם הַכִּפֻּרִים הוּא, מִקְרָא-קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם, וְעִנִּיתֶם, אֶת-נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם; וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם אִשֶּׁה, לַיהוָה.

I finally got my mac to where I can copy and paste Hebrew. I have a workbook and am learning to print the Hebrew characters. Which got me to wondering......I have over 1500 fonts on my laptop. That means I can print each letter of the alphabet approximately 1500 ways.

So even though I am learning to write Hebrew from a workbook......can I alter the letters, design a "font", make them look different for the purposes of art?

Guess what! I think I can! I took this, which is the word "chai" which means "life". I have always thought I could see a polar bear in this word. Do you see it?


So, I sketched the symbols on watercolor paper and then sketched a polar bear around it. And then added color:

I even did a second one and really skewed the images a bit as I wanted the bear to be shorter and longer and the head tilted down.....

And take another look. One is the negative of the other. Pretty cool!

So I'm thinking this could be a good way to teach myself the characters of the Hebrew language.....to sketch them and see what other design they look like. I'm figuring this can pretty much take up the rest of my life....but oh! what a great learning experience!!!

If you want to read more about today's holiday, I like antipas.net It really makes you think!!!

Altering 101!

My friend, Rose, was here from Wales. Now Rose is an amazing shopper, but what's even more amazing is the amount of stuff she can fit into her bags and still be under the weight limits! She had been here for a couple of weeks and her bags were at the max when she saw this dressform at Hobby Lobby:



She really wanted it, but there was no way to get it back to Wales!!! Needless to say, when I saw it on the 60% off rack this week - I got it! Just to tease Rose! OK, I didn't really like it, but I had an idea. First, I painted a layer of decoupage on it to seal the jute it is made of. Then sprayed a layer of primer, and finally a layer of white gloss paint - all Krylon paint. And now it looks like wicker - but it's not!



Next, I cut ribbons in 1 1/2 yard lengths and started threading them through the waist. Yes - it's going to be my new ribbon storage system! Dare I do one in each color? LOL! OK - I'll just do one and keep my blue, turquoise, silver and white ribbons on it!



Not bad like this, but am I done yet? That's the whole thing about altering something. This is what I originally envisioned in my head. But when I got here....it just lacks something. So the next step is to just start looking around the house to see what you can find!



I saw this turquoise and gold scarf that I picked up on our trip to Israel. I don't wear it. But I love it! And I thought "now, wouldn't that make a perfect bodice?" and started wrapping it around the top of the dess form. Just absolutely perfect!!!




When it comes to altering things, you will just have to have a cut-off point. I found these gold rhinestone chains and earrings and they just added the final touches!



And then I place it next to my little Judaica corner. Two of mom's paintings, a peddler doll I made, an American girl doll dressed for Hanukkah, a menora, and my journal from Israel. It's just perfect!



I seriously doubt I will use any of the ribbons from her skirt - but they are there if I need them in a pinch! In the meantime, I will just enjoy this and every time I look at it, I will think of Rose. I really should thank her for not buying it when she was here because now I have a wonderful addition to my "storage" ideas!