some craftiness

It was a bit daunting to get back to crafting. I had a strange fear that I wouldn't have any more ideas anymore. What if I forgot how?! But, nothing like a deadline and a sketch to help jump start one's creativity.

First up is a Rosh Hashana card with my handy dandy, and ever so lovely Crafting Jewish Style kit. Keep an eye on their blog for more cards in the coming weeks. Really all the elements are so beautiful, and look great together that it is almost too easy.

And I made it just in the nick of time for another Ella Stretch Your Sketch:

And my take:

When there's nothing good on TV...

So after a day of  exploring ancient ruins in Caesaria, swimming in the pool, eating a decadent, and extremely carnivorous dinner, we headed back to our hotel room to watch some TV before bed. We weren't expecting anything fancy, just a little something to allow us to do nothing for a while. But, alas, there was not one decent show on TV there.

But there was a Spanish soap opera...tele-novella...tv show...? I don't know what it was. It was in Spanish. But I do know that it had a low production value, and some cowboys. Dave managed to create an entire made up story line which he narrated as we all watched.

I don't really recall all the details. Something about a cowboy hat, a mustache, missing donuts, and a man whose sister was horse. What I do remember is that it was very funny.

And sweet.

And somewhere in there is a moral about using your imagination.

rocks and stones

I'm not sure why, but I have a thing for rocks. I buy those bags of them in Ikea, and I put them all over my home. I have been known to pocket rocks from beaches and parks, and sometimes that is definitely against the rules. But I can't resist the colors and shapes  and feel of them. On this trip to Israel, I tried to capture my love of rocks in photos, rather than in my backpack.

Observe:

So, another lovely thing about Israel is that lots of buildings- new, old, and ancient, are made from stone. And I love them. The older and crumblier the better. We visited Caesaria, a small town (no street names, even) on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, where ancient Roman ruins abound.

And against the blue sky, those old rocks look beautiful. Every time.

And I would be a remiss scrapbooker if I didn't include the stories of that day. Sam was actually pretty hot, tired, and cranky during a lot of the sightseeing. But, really the sights were too magnificent  for us to rush through on his behalf. In the middle, though, we bought some ice cream, and that gave him a boost for at least an hour. And then even he couldn't contain how cool it all was. As for all the climbing, well, it wasn't very well labeled. Some places seemed to be open to the public to go in and out and up and down, and others not. Once we found a sign after the fact, asking us to please keep out. Oops. So, Max and Dave loved the history, I loved the stones, Sam loved to climb, and who can't be enamored by the sheer scale of some things?

I mean look at him! He's huge!

Next up: What to do when you get back to the hotel, eat an amazing and decadent dinner, and then find out that absolutely NOTHING is on TV?

Welcome Back!

I am welcoming myself back to America, and back to blogging after a 3 week hiatus. As I said in my last post, I went into complete Bar Mitzvah preparation mode. In those 3 weeks I bought paper goods, hired a caterer, made centerpieces and place cards, designed benchers, re-designed benchers, bought more paper goods, met with the waitresses, and all while also traveling a bit with Dave and the kids. Oh, and we celebrated Max's Bar Mitzvah.

So now I must face the task of going through about 1,000 pictures, and try to get back into scrapping mode. I have no pictures of the Bar Mitzvah itself; for that I hired a photographer, and I can't wait to see those.

So how to sort through 7 weeks of vacation photos?
Well, I'll start like this:
There are photos of:

Old Things:

And New Things:

Big Things:

And Small Things:

Red Things:

And Blue Things:

Things that Crawl:

And things that Fly:

And now it's time to say goodbye.

What will I do next?

What's That? Another Ella Sketch?

Why yes, it is.  See?

Once I saw these pictures, I knew they'd be perfect for this sketch. I followed the sketch pretty closely, and that helped it come together really fast. And, I love that this day is already scrapped. Especially since the next few weeks are going to be filled to the brim with Bar Mitzvah preparations. ( I think I'll keep a tally of the number of breakdowns I have in these coming weeks. I would say right now I am at 2: One about my invitations, and one about the caterer, or lack thereof.)

Just a bit more story to accompany this layout:

I had  decided since we were in Israel, and the kids had finished camp, that it would be great for Max to put his tefillin on for the first time at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Nobody else seemed that excited, and we were late (we had arranged to meet some friends there), and it was hot, and I was feeling pretty crabby when the day started.  Even as it was happening, I was so involved in taking pictures, and still worried that everyone was hot and uncomfortable. But after davening (praying), we walked to a fun restaurant called Waffle Bar, where we ate waffles and pancakes covered in all sorts of decadent toppings. Once we were hydrated, fed, and properly air conditioned, I had  a chance to look over these pictures, and they just made me happy. It's just hard to believe that little Max is now in a different category; guy who wears tefillin while davening in the morning, along with all the other teenagers and men in shul. Which I guess means he is just about to be a teenager. Weird. But cool.

Ella Stretch Your Sketch

I am happy to join in again for Ella's Stretch your Sketch series. I'm pretty happy with all things Ella Publishing, really. And in this case I get to participate.

La Sketch:

And my layout. Which is a little more "stretch" than sketch. But, all those photos, plus the embellishments on the side, do create a 4x4 grid. I moved the title to the side, and added some patterned paper below the grid.

Here's another layout that I've been working on. I loved this photo so much, and at first anything I added to it, seemed to distract from the picture itself. But, I couldn't quite let it go. I'm glad I worked on it longer, because I really love the results. 

Ahh, it feels good to be sharing some scrapping again. I hope to be able to do it again soon. We'll be traveling in Israel this week, so it might have to wait a little while.

The Lemonade Stand

A big part of the thrill of spending the summer in Israel is being with my parents, and my sister and her family for seven whole weeks (thought now it is just 4 and a half weeks). Yesterday, Max and Sam went with their cousins to the store to buy lemons to make and sell lemonade.

They cut and squeezed:

Joey and Meital, being the smallest, cutest, and hardest to resist, were put in charge of asking passers by if they wanted lemonade:

And Max supervised from his throne:

At some point, Sam came running inside for a spoon. "Everyone said the lemonade was good, but I just tasted it! It's so sour! we need to mix it better."

Their first sale was to a taxi driver, who said it was so good that he gave them an extra shekel.

good time, good times.