9/14 Something Special Tuesday update!

Thanks to my husband, I have a new Somethng Crafty for this week.  This just might win the recycling craft award.  This brings Jewish crafts to a whole new level.

If you do this, please send me pictures and I'll post.

Something Special Tuesday

Welcome to Something Special Tuesday!

Something Special Tuesday is devoted to 4 subject areas: yummy, crafty, spiritual, and financial.  Whether or not I add more to the list is yet to be seen.  I will present to you my favorite posts from the blogosphere related to these subject areas and I hope you enjoy the posts as much as I do, and perhaps even get inspired from them.

Caveat:  since I do have a full-time job and 2 little ones under the age of 3 at home, I cannot absolutely promise that I will stick to this schedule every single week, but I will certainly try.

Of course - I would love to hear suggestions!  So here are my picks for this week:

Something yummy:  I made homemade yogurt last Thursday in my crockpot!  Yes, it can be done!  The result is a very creamy plain yogurt with a fresh, tangy taste.  I made it with 1% milk (my first attempt was with whole milk and that got rave reviews).  Now I need to make some homemade granola to go with it...

Something crafty:  Even though I moved in to my office about 6 months ago, I really haven't decorated it much (and the addition of a dry-erase white board last week got me very excited).  I saw this gorgeous mirror and I really plan on making it, especially since it looks super-easy, so even though I totally don't sew, I just love the idea of the colorful rainbow.  And it will really brighten up my office.

Something spiritual:  I get a lot of my inspiration online - there are so very, very many beautiful stories out there - and since we are now starting the month of Elul and the countdown to Rosh Hashana, when this essay landed in my inbox yesterday I knew I had to share it with everyone.

Something financial:  When it comes to saving money, I can't think of anything easier than clipping coupons.  You don't have to be all obsessive about it, and you don't need to spend a lot of time on it, and there are lots of blogs that do all of the work for you so you can just print the coupon or grocery list and go.  Those few minutes spent gathering those coupons, those several dollars saved with each trip to the grocery store, all of that can really add up.  Right now I am averaging a savings of about 30% on my grocery bill.  NOT BAD AT ALL.  This site is a great place to start for coupons and terrific deals.

Let me know what you think!  Have a great Tuesday!

Craft: Bat Mitzvah Memory Book

This week I made a Bat Mitzvah Memory Book for a young lady in the community whose Bat Mitzvah is this Shabbat. I got the idea from looking at my own Bat Mitzvah book, and it made me think that my book doesn't really reflect my personality, or capture my thoughts at the time, or anything like that. It was a book I insisted on buying from a Judaica store, but I don't know why I made my parents buy it because I remember not even being thrilled with it at the time. I wanted this young lady to have a place where she could capture this moment in a creative way, so I spent all week looking up information online, getting ideas for the content, and then crafting away. Behold, my very own Bat Mitzvah Memory Book.

Craft: Pregnancy Paper bag album

I made this for a friend for her birthday, and she is pregnant. I found the idea online (of course) to make a pregnancy album out of paper lunch bags (why not), which I had at home. Another trip to Hobby Lobby netted me double-sided tape, a few sheets of cardstock, some pregnancy stickers, and the ribbon with which to bind the whole thing (here's another tip: check the clearance bin - you can find cool ribbon in there for very very cheap!). There's space in the album for my friend and her husband to write down their thoughts and to adhere photos, ultrasound pics, and more. I really hope she enjoys it!

Craft: Mini photo album

I got this idea from another blog (click here) and made this as a birthday present for a dear friend. It was quite an adventure for me, as I got to go to Hobby Lobby and pick out neat papers and stickers. Needless, to say, I was very proud of my finished product and showed it off to my parents and husband. I had never done anything like this (decorative scissors! binder rings! designing a page!) but now I would like to do more.

A new hobby

As of very recently I now have a lot of free time on my hands, and since I am not used to so much free time I need to come up with ways to stay productive. For reasons that are unknown to me and I cannot explain, I have picked up a crafting hobby of sorts. This is ironic because I have always HATED arts and crafts time (either at school or camp) and I have an inability to come up with anything on my own (which was why I didn't like my music composition class, or why I always cook from a recipe, never from my own ideas). So why I have this desire to do crafting is beyond me.

But, it is what it is, as a great sage once said (and I frequently repeat), so I succumbed to my local Hobby Lobby.

So far I like crafts that deal with paper. I have made a photo album for a friend (photo to be posted soon) and I made a laminated sign for the Al Netilat Yadayim (ritual hand-washing) blessing. My husband bought me a crafting book, and I checked out other crafting books from the library. However, I am still in search of good ideas of what to craft.

If you have an idea of what I can do, please share. Since I am (very) new to this, every idea is a good idea and I will appreciate your input.