Tisha B'Av 2011

Oseh Shalom
 He who makes peace in the heavens grant peace to us & to all our people. 

Tomorrow begins Tisha B'Av - the saddest day of the Jewish calendar. We mourn the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, the Temple in Jerusalem and the other sad events and traumas that fell out on that same day. It is said that G-d set aside that day for all the sad events to occur for the Jewish people. Three weeks of mourning precede it in which we abstain from having weddings, cutting hair and listening to music. In the last 9 days before Tisha B'Av ( 9th day of the Month of AV) we abstain from eating meat as that would be a symbol of joy. On Tisha B'Av itself we fast from sundown until the stars come out the next day. It is a 25 hour fast in the heat of the summer. No food, no water, no bathing - this is serious mourning. We sit on the floor instead of on chairs and do not wear leather shoes as they are a symbol of status and happiness.We recount the stories and talk about how to create peace and harmony with each other. We learn about loving each other and appreciating the good they have done for us. "Olam B'Chesed YiBaneh" A world is built upon good deeds. I hope that this will be the last year of mourning and that the 3rd Temple will be rebuilt and happiness will reign instead of sadness.
I wanted to share a story I have known since childhood about the place where the Beit Hamikdash once stood:
THE TWO BROTHERS:

A long time ago in Jerusalem lived two brothers who were both farmers. They tended their crop on opposite sides of a hilltop. One brother was married and had a large family. The other lived alone. They farmed the land, and harvested equal amounts of produce. Every night the two brothers, each in his own home at opposite ends of the field, would lie awake in thought.
The brother with the large family would think to himself, "My brother is alone, and has no one to take care of him. Surely he needs more of the crop than I." Meanwhile, the single brother wondered, "My brother has many children to feed. Surely he and his wife need more of the crop than I."
And so each night, long after midnight, the married man would gather bundles of wheat, carry them across the field and quietly place them among his brother's supply. And likewise, the single man would gather some of his bundles late at night, and secretly deliver them to his married brother.
Years passed, each brother unaware of the other's generosity.
One clear starry night, the two brothers met as they carried their bundles of wheat across the field. Realizing what the other had been doing all these years, they dropped the produce, held out their arms, and embraced. Weeping together, they realized the true meaning of brotherly love.
The hill on which their field sat was Mount Moriah, and the spot where the two brothers wept was to become the Holy Temple built by King Solomon -- for only such a place of extraordinary giving could serve as the bedrock for the holiest site in the world.

no time like the present

I am horrible at this - blogging that is. I love creating - I even like talking about the tons of projects I have going on - you know you NEVER seem to work at just one at a time - but I seem to have a love hate relationship with my computer. I love it - but tend to get distracted from all the good "STUFF"" to be learned and found on the web. Inspiration comes from anywhere and in many forms. I wish for time in the day when I am not exhausted from the "day job" to sit down at my table and create, for supplies to be found easily ( I am forever needing someone to organize my supplies!) and for me to remember the ideas that were OH SO CLEAR TO ME only a few hours earlier.

Here are a couple of hte artworks I have been busy with:

MAzal

Vintage Jerusalem

How do you do IT?

ok - IT -  that elusive thing...that is...make time for creating, learning new techniques, take pictures, post onto Etsy, read about other ideas, social network...oh and have a full time job, be a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, cook and clean and collapse at the end of the night!?! Thank G-d I have a husband who gets just as wrapped up in his business as I do in mine - at 11 or 12  o'clock at night we will check up on each other and  remind each other that maybe it is time to collapse....and then we keep going until we actually do almost collapse. It is a pattern - but one that better time management skills would probably solve - or an added 4 hours in the day! The thing is, I really love creating - it relaxes me - I love solving art problems they are complex puzzles that stretch my imaginations and challenge my skills. Collage takes a group of items and combines them to create a pleasing form; just like my life!

SO in between the post office , the bank, the cleaners, the job, and the dentist , I created the last few canvasses for Pesach....now maybe I will start to actually CLEAN for Pesach!

Getting ready for Pesach...or the procrastination prevails!!!!

It's coming...it's coming - I know Pesach is only 2 weeks aways - and instead of actually getting it together and cleaning, shopping and planning menus I am sitting at the computer. Yucko... whereas Pesach ( or Passover whatever you call it) is one of my absolute happiest and most wonderful of holidays the preparations leading to that day are not so much....
ok - I must think of it this way - to get to the freedom I have to work like a slave for a little bit - that sounds awfully familiar....
Years ago when I had 3 little kids running around and a dog leaving food everywhere it was more of an issue - but my husband and I are by ourselves - and contrary to the opinion of said 3 little kids now not so little - are not slobs. Food is eaten only in a few choice locations so that Pesach prep in theory should be easier.I said in theory - ok??? :)

I also don't buy as much as I used to - moving from Atlanta to NY has its perks - used to be that after the first 2 days the local store would be out of most of the pesach foods - so replenishing was not always possible. I learned the hard way to buy more before to avoid issues later. Now I am spoiled rotten with 3 stores around the corner getting in supplies all the time - if I can't get it...I probably don't need it!
But I am very proud of myself - I actually made the list to buy and menu already...now for that cleaning,,,, well...maybe tomorrow!

Simchat Purim!!! YAY!!!! Purim is Coming!!!

Just completed the finishing touches on my latest Purim canvas - "Simchat Purim". Purim has always been my absolute favorite holiday - how can you go wrong?? candy, parties...FUN!!!! For years I had a gift basket business and spent the time before creating hundreds of incredible themed gifts - on Purim day I just collapsed with sheer exhaustion! Today...not so much  - but Hubby and I are planning to do our own "themed" mishloach manot  - MOVIES and POPCORN!!! We procured these jumbo sized popcorn containers and plan on filling them with movie sized candy - and a DVD of course! Hubby has a collection of movies in the thousands - so this theme will not be a stretch for us in any way!
Living in NY I kinda miss the annual Purim Parade in Atlanta with all the kids - little and big dressing up and getting into the mood of the holiday. The trade off is being close to family and seeing my own nieces and nephews dress up on the actual day of Purim - I figure it sorta balances itself out. CHAG SAMEACH!!!!!

Toy Fair

Just got home from accompanying hubby to the International Toy Fair at the Javits Center in NY. Was amazing..and exhausting! So many wonderful thing to see and touch - snow makers out of edible polymers ( as if we need more snow!), games and toys - sure but I found these great kits to make all sorts of things.OK - we placed order for the usual cast of characters...but then we found it...headphones that you can decorate yourself with stickers and lettering, flowers and jewels - I am totally psyched. I can't wait to start decorating these and putting them on etsy - one of a kind beauties!!!!  Check out link below to find out more about the toy fair!
http://www.toyassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Toy_Fair&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=193&ContentID=3538

The other great thing about the show was that I had a chance to meetup with a group of artists from etsy that were there talking up etsy handmade. I don't know about you  - it's always nice to have a chance to shmooze with like minded artists and get their take on things. One talked to me about business and how she relists during the day with her blackberry at lunchtime - she is an engineer in her day job and makes wonderful felt characters in her "spare" time into the wee hours of the night. Another was an amazing photographer who showed us her tricks with a digital camera and a piece of white paper to take incredible shots. Being part of etsy is great because you are part of a larger community of artist who are excited and happy to share with you.

ok...another "playing around" back to work!

SPRING IS HERE?!?!?!?.....or not?!?!

ok ok - I admit...I am not good at this whole blogging thing - I get distracted and forget that this supposed to be a daily thing - and really...currently only 3 people know that I exist anyways!!!!

But I will continue to plug away at it....hoping that I will ge the hang of it!

When I was little I loved to gather my materials and come up with something wonderful from the items. I still love doing that today.I posted new items on my etsy site...have been playing around with some new methods - got bored and tried something new - SO I looked out my window and saw the mountains of snow and said to myself - what I really need is SPRING!!! The above 2 pics are a result of my musing.

I used hebrew language workbook pages to create the tree, metal findings in the shape of leaves that I bought in Israel that have brachot ( blessings) on them, cut and punched out shapes, added stamps, and played with acrylics and viola....spring in a can - or canvas as this case may be.