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.

Thing Two

And now for an update about Sam's time in Israel, thus far.

First of all, he's been looking super cool. Male model cool:

But more importantly, he's been going to a horse back riding camp, which is right up his alley. He hit it off right away with the neighborhood boys in his camp, who all speak English, and they have taken it upon themselves to take turns translating  for him.

Sam has been LOVING the pool:

And a big highlight was finding this guy:

And what scrapbooker isn't thrilled to see her offspring recording his menories:

I've been doing some crafting, and I hope to share with you soon.

Thing One

Here's a little update about Max's time in Israel, thus far. Talking about Max in Israel means talking about Max and Yoav, and the lack of Max in Israel. Meaning, Max thus far, has spent most of his days with his cousin Yoav, and several times they said, "Bye, we're going to the park. See you later!"

He did let me take some just showered, pre-shabbat photos:

I even got a smile out of him, because I am just that funny.

We spent our first Friday in Jerusalem walking through the Shuk. The first time we came to Israel with the kids was in 2005, when Max was just a young lad of 6. When he first spotted an entire stall filled with kosher candy, he said, "This is like Gan Eden!"

This time the prospect of candy was less exciting. Because he's 12, and too cool for that sort of thing. But he'll still eat it. 

And Max has spent lots of time with his other cousins too, and it always looks funny because he's just much larger than all of them.

Stay tuned for Tales of Thing Two.

Shalom!!

Hello from Israel!

My plan when I got here was to scrap A LOT, and blog a lot (but not capitalized), get things ready for Max's Bar Mitzvah, and eventually see the sights, take lots of pictures, which brings us back to blogging and scrapping. But setting up technological shop in another country, in another person's home has made it trickier. Add to that, the fact that the internet hds been unreliable in my parents' home since we got here. Now, my sister always has her internet, but no printer...So, everything is taking longer than I had hoped, but progress is being made. now that things are working, I want to share EVERYTHING. But, I', going to focus on a little at a time.

On the crafting front, I got started right away getting ready for Chanukah in July at Crafting Jewish Style. First, there is a giveway for their amazing Chanukah scrapbooking kit. With which I made this:

Using this sketch from Anam Stubbington:

I've been working a lot on pinning down some details for Max's Bar Mitzvah, which will be held here :

And on the big day I think it will be nice to have some pictures taken here:

I love the look of the old, broken stones, and the arches. The old city of Jerusalem has so many. I just adore them.

I'd love to add more photos, but it's taking forever to upload. I'm going to call it a blog-day here, and hopefully I can consider myself back on the blog-bandwagon. 

Very Important question!!!

If you were leaving home for 7 weeks, what scrapbook supplies would you HAVE to take? More importantly, what could you leave behind? This photo is my pile. The black box is also filled to the brim with card stock, paper, and some other buttons and brads, and paper cutter, and scissors, and extra blades. But what if I need a slightly different shade of red button...? Or a bigger circle?