My contribution to the Spanish Advent Calendar 2023 organized by Matxalen, is a step by step tutorial for a little sewing basket.  Here is my link. 

https://drorasminimundo.blogspot.com/2023/12/hola-queridos-lectores-una-vez-mas.html

נשיקות

Hola queridos lectores,

Una vez más estoy aquí con vosotros, participando en el Calendario de Adviento 2023 organizado por Matxalen. Muchas gracias querida Matxalen por invitarme a participar nuevament. 

Hello dear readers,

Once more I am here with you, participating in the 2023 Advent Calendar organized by Matxalen. Thank you very much dear Matxalen for inviting me to participate again.  

Tutorial de cesta de costura

Sewing basket tutorial

Herramientas y materiales

Tools and materials

Hilo y gancho de crochet..

pegamento pegajoso

Yute 

Tela de algodón

tijeras

cartulina

Crochet thread and hook..

Tacky glue

Jute

Cotton fabric

scissors 

Cardstock

1. Haga una solución de 2/3 de pegamento y 1/3 de agua. Sumerja el yute en la solución y déjelo secar. Cuando esté seco, colóquelo sobre una superficie plana y coloque un libro pesado encima para que quede rígido y plano.

1.  Make a solution of 2/3 glue and 1/3 water.  Dip the jute in the solution and let it dry.  When dry, lay it on a flat surface and put a heavy book on top to make it stiff and flat.

2.. Recorta de la cartulina dos plantillas circulares de 2,5 cm de diámetro.

2.  Cut out from the cardstock two 2.5cm diameter circle templates

3.  Pega las plantillas de cartulina al yute. Cuando esté seco, Corta el yute alrededor de la plantillas dejando las plantillas puestas.

Ahora pega la otra cara del yute a la tela de algodón. Cuando esté seco, corte el exceso de tela, dejando las plantillas intercaladas entre la tela de yute y la de algodón.

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3.  Glue the cardstock templates to the jute.  When dry, cut the jute around the templates, leaving the templates on.

Now glue the other face of the circle to the cotton fabric. When dry cut the the excess fabric, leaving the templates sandwiched between jute and cotton fabric.

4. Corta un trozo de yute de 13x4 cm de largo. Envuelve el trozo largo de yute alrededor de un pequeño pastillero redondo para hacerlo flexible. Sácalo y pégalo en un círculo con el algodón hacia arriba.

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4.  Cut a 13x4 cm long piece of Jute  Wrap the long piece of jute around a small round pill box to make it flexible.  Take it out and glue it to one circle with the cotton face up.

5. Teje una cadena lo suficientemente larga como para rodear el fondo de la canasta y pégala. Teje un cordón lo suficientemente largo como para rodear la canasta y pégalo en la parte superior. (foto abajo)

5.  Crochet a chain long enough to go around the bottom of the basket and glue it on.  Crochet a lace long enough to go around the basket and glue it on to the top.  (photo below)

6. Tejer una cadena lo suficientemente larga como para dar dos vueltas alrededor de la tapa de la canasta.

6.  Crochet a chain long enough to go twice around the cover of the basket

7. Coser un pequeño lazo en la cubierta superior y coser una pequeña cuenta en el centro de la canasta antes de forrarla. Coser la funda a la cesta de forma que el lazo y la cuenta queden uno delante del otro. Dobla el trozo largo de tela de algodón por la mitad para que quede una tira de 1 cm de ancho.

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7. Sew a small loop to the top cover and sew a little bead to the middle of the basket before lining.  Sew the cover to the basket in such a way that the loop and the bead are one in front of the other. Fold the long piece of the cotton fabric in half so that there will be a 1cm wide strip.

Si no sabes hacer crochet, puedes sustituirlo por adornos finos ya hechos. El tamaño de este cuadro se puede reducir o ampliar según el diámetro de los círculos elegidos.

If you don't know how to crochet you can substitute with ready made thin trimmings.  The size of this box can be reduced or enlarged according to the diameter of the circles chosen.

Ideas para llenar la cesta

Ideas for filling the basket

Gracias de nuevo a Matxalen, Sé que se necesita mucho trabajo para organizar este fantástico calendario de Adviento y lo haces año tras año.

¡Les deseo a todos una Feliz Navidad y un Próspero y Próspero Año Nuevo 2024!

Thanks again to Matxalen,  I know what a lot of hard work goes into organizing this fantastic advent calendar and you do it year after year.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Prosperous, New Year 2024!

Matxalen's 2023 Advent Calendar

 Hello dear friends,

This year's annual Advent Calendar 2023, organized by Matxalen, has already started with the first of 24 miniature tutorials. All you have to do is poke on the day No. 1 on the image at my sidebar. My tutorial will appear on day 4.  If you like it, please leave a comment.

Sadly, our Hanukkah this year won't be a happy one.  The war is still on, The agreement for the return of out hostages was violated by Hamas. There are many hostages held captive.

I'm leaving you a link to an interview with a special 85 years old miniaturist who crafts stunning miniatures.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0FjHkKmCxs

I wish you a lovely weekend with blessings

Wartime miniatures.

 Hello dear readers,

At the end of October, I ordered special trimmings for the eyedrop=bottles planters.  The trimmings like all my other orders did not arrive because of the situation in my country.  Still I wanted to finish the planters before Christmas and Hanukkah, so I just used a hook and crocheted something to trim the edge of the planters.  Close to my home there is a flower shop where I regularly order flowers for gifts.  The owner, a nice lady, agreed to sell me a block of green flower sponge.  Now I have a light and inexpensive material to fill the planters.

My first flower filled planters. Different flowers will be "planted", two at a time. Making flowers is my favorite pastime, lifting my mood.  I hope to be able to show you more in my future posts.

 

You can see the crochet trim clearly on the empty planter.  Don't know if it's as good as what I ordered but I rather like the result.

Above you can see the "before" between the "after".

This is the foam block, it was much longer but I cut off  a third to fill the planters and there still a big chunk of the third left.

All these used to be eyedrop and vitamin D bottles. These are only half of the little containers the folks at the Day Care center collected.

The siren alarms are almost over, here where I live.. Yesterday there was only one in the afternoon. I hope today there will be none. We all pray for the safety of our hostages and hope they return to us as soon as possible. Before that there is no chance that the fighting will stop.

Have a great creative week with peace and blessings!  

​

 .

War and tutorials

 Hello dear readers, 

The missiles attacks on the area where I live have lessened although the war is still on.

I feel safer and started to work again on my miniatures.  Not much to show as I am working on many different items for future tutorials and taking step by step photos on the way.  I try to make my miniatures from easy to find materials, not necessarily craft items which are found only in dollhouse hobby shops.  In Israel there are no such shops but there are many painting and office craft shops, There are also shops that sell school and kindergarten art craft.  One is not very far from my home. 

I started with little people made out of pipe cleaners.  I have new little friends from the shelter space who were very happy to receive some.  A lot of teenagers have shadow-boxes in their room and love to fill them with small toys. 

Well, this short post is just to let you know that I'm keeping alive and OK.

Hugs and blessings to you all xx

The Importance of Booing

 Dear readers

I try to avoid thinking about the horrors around me.  I'm dreaming about a better world with good hearted witches who can make it happen.. 

The Skellies, are on a short Halloween vacation from the Ghost Academy. They arrived to enjoy a pleasant visit with Baalatova, the ancient witch, and her pets Solly the flying young bear and Kitty the beautiful cat girl.

The Skellies, after their long walk, left their crutches at the entrance and set down comfortably on the pumpkins Baalatova provided for them as seats.  The cats never left their sight guarding them all the way.

Baalatova:  How is life at the Academy?

Skelly: I'm doing fine, I get good grades and hope to graduate soon.

Skella:  I've got a huge problem.  I can't BOO.  I try my best but what comes out sounds more like a BEE. If I fail to BOO correctly it will cost me my diploma.  Booing, after floating silently through walls and closed doors, is one of the the most important part of being a ghost.

Baalatova:  Oh dear, this is the reason there are not hundred of thousands of ghosts around. I may have a potion that can solve your problem.  It's to be rubbed around your neck vertebrae. But I have to warn you, this potion is only effective on skeletons who died young and had elastic voice cords.

Skella:  Alas I didn't die young but I could sing beautifully until my last day.

Baalatova:  Well, in any case, remember each ghost is allowed to haunt alone in only one home. This means that you and Skelly, if and when you get your ghosting diplomas, will no longer be able to stay together..

Skella:  I realize sadly,  that ghosting is a lonely occupation.

Baalatova:    Dear Skella, there will always be a home for you or Skelly here.  I'll make Drora build it. In times of stress the best therapy for her is to be busy.

Baalatova:  Come on my dear friends lets forget troubles and have a lovely time together. Anyone for my special rich nourishing eyesoup????? Sorry I forgot, no stomachs.

To be continued next year, Halloween or maybe sooner.

Thank you my dear friends for caring and for your prayers for peace.  It's impossible to believe that we are in war again.  Why can't people live together and appreciate the greatest, sacred gift given to all, the MIRACLE OF LIFE.

Hugs and blessings to you my dear readers and friends.

             

Déjà vu

 

Hello dear readers

Once again I'm confined, alone in my home but unlike the Corona period when I was in my best creative crafting mood, on these, too many days of war I am doing very little crafting except for making a very few flowers, a craft that calms me and makes me think of a better world.  It's like I've already been there (Déjà vu) only this time far more dangerous. In our sheltered space, sitting with my neighbors when there is a missiles attack, we feel as if there is a Russian Roulette game going on, will a missile hit our building or miss?

With Halloween around the corner, and wanting to do my utmost not to disappoint Baalatova, my ancient witch, I'll try to tell you her latest news in my next post.

Until then, I wish you a great weekend, calm and safety,

  

 

 Dear readers,

First of all let me thank all my blog friends for for their encouraging words  You touched my heart.

My family and my brothers' family are all OK.  Most of us live in the center of our small country, and except for occasional missiles landing here and there causing damage, we are safe thank God.  The situation is horrible in the south.  I gave up watching TV.  The pictures I've seen are heartbreaking and cause sleepless nights.  

Contrary to the Corona period when we were confined at home, we, who are retired, school kids or people who can work from home are again confined at home where we have special space shelters.  At least we get to know our neighbors their frightened kids and even their poor pets for the short whiles we sit there together. We got used to hearing the siren alarms going on before each missile attack is foreseen and have enough time to reach the shelter and pray that a missile will not land on our building. We sleep dressed up to be ready for the shelters.

I'll continue to post once a week, just to let you know we are OK.

Thanks again for your concern.

Hugs, and blessings.

Dear readers,

I've been busily crafting, preparing little gifts for my great-grand-kids and other kids and friends, taking advantage of the time the P/C was unavailable. I'm also relieved to realize that no photo in my blog got lost.  Blogger took care of that..

A few of the items you'll see in the photos below have already been wrapped and presented but many await the arrival of my granddaughters and their family who live abroad. 

The strollers and teddies are for the little girls and their teenaged sisters.

 

The dogs and cats are for the boys and/or their girl friends. Pipe cleaners are wonderful to work with. I had to order the light colored ones.  I ordered beige and received these.  This is what happens when your order online. At least you are safe with white or black.

     

Flower duck pots for anyone who likes and wants them. (more than half are already gone. I'll have to make more.)

    

This if how the ducks look before sanding and make-up.  These are made from DAS.

We are in the midst of several holidays,  Last week was the holiest day in the Jewish faith. Yom Kippur, (Day of  Atonement.) Religious people fast on this day, pray in synagogues and don't drive or do any manual work, including cooking, lighting fire. They don't smoke because this require lighting a fire.. Except for police cars and ambulances the roads are empty all over the country. A very solemn day indeed. I'm relieved it has passed without incidents.

Today is the second day of the feast of Sukkot (Feast if Tabernacles.)  This one is a happy feast that lasts 8 days but the 6 days in between the first and the eighth are shorter than regular working days.  Schools and many official institutes are closed all the 8 days. 

Can't believe it's already October!

I wish you all my dear readers lovely autumn days to enjoy with blessings.

 Hello dear readers,

After an unexpected absence of a few weeks from this blog, I am back with you. 

My faithful but very old Mac computer was infected with dangerous viruses. I didn't trust myself to work on it or contact friends through it in order not to transfer the risk to other computers. being the last woman who considers herself  a computer technologist, and because of the risk I also was afraid of saving data to a disk-on-key. 

In the end the computer was sent for repair but it was too late to save it. Fortunately, my eldest grandson helped me purchase a new computer. My genius 18 year old great-grandson was the one who assembled it for me at home. In the meantime, an expert tried to save the data, but a large part was lost, including the addresses of friends and some very important photos.

Now I have to practice and get used to the, fully protected new (Sadly, not an expensive Mac), but a reliable computer with Windows 10. It takes me time to load photos and find where exactly they are in order to transfer them to the blog. The lesson I learned and shall hopefully remind is to save my data every few months.

I already visited some of your blogs and left a (safe) short comment.  I shall visit the rest of my favorite blogs and leave comments as soon as possible.

Does anyone remember this pizza savers potion table?

I have a new "waste to best" idea for these throwaway pieces.  Below are my photos of round and corner ones.

We'll be celebrating our Hebrew New Year at the end of this week and I'm busy preparing miniature gifts for the family.  I'll show these in my next post, after the holiday.

I wish all my Jewish blog friends a HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I wish a wonderful crafty rest of the week to all my readers with hugs and blessings.

 Dear readers

It's me, Baalatova. Believe me, it wasn't me who sent the terrible heat wave that suppresses any desire to create something new to be shown here. I do everything in my power to make Drora work. She just finished reading a stack of books, practiced playing the electric organ, received a heap of plastic vials collected by the women at the day center, and will finally start to make something out of them.

I took care of the air conditioner.  It works full-time, and because of my spells, there is no electricity cut off in our area. As you see, Solly and Kitty are in my good hands. They don't complain about the heat like my lazy Drora.

My advice to you all is to spend as little as possible time outdoors, keep cool, and don't forget to drink enough water.

Have a pleasant weekend with blessings.

tutorial for making a urn planter.

 Hello dear readers

Before I'll let you know who the winner is I'll show you how easy it is to make these planters with one of the most common household items.

Materials and tools:

Tools are what you see in the photo.

Materials: A small bottle of eye drops or vitamin D drops. Narrow trimmings or lace. 

Tucky glue, Acrylic paint of your choice. A narrow masking tape for covering the rough edges of the brim. 

I'm keeping the other parts of the bottle to see what can be done with them.  

To enable the trimming will stay firmly glued on plastic,  the brim has to be covered with masking tape.

A piece of lace is glued to the urn in the middle.  I wonder what it will look like after being painted. 

All three will be painted after the glue is completely dry.

I used materials that I had at hand for embellishing this part of the bottles. I ordered a silicone mold from Aliexpress. I hope to get it soon so I can make more versions.  The people at the Center were excited to see the first urn and started bringing all kinds and sizes of empty plastic medicine containers. I'm sure they can help me to decorate the bottles.

Not surprisingly, several comments were very close to the solution. The winner was the first with her comment. (Freethinker please contact me by email, at drorahed@gmail.com). 

Thank you for your much-appreciated and most welcomed comments.  

This is a list of participants in my second giveaway draw. The winner can choose one of the planters shown above after I make a slight change by gluing the plants inside the containers. 

1. Jodi, 2 Anisnofla. 3. Jenevieve. 4. Ram. 5. Betsy. 6. Alex. 7. Birgit. 8. Isabel. 9. Brigett.10. Brit. 11. Amary. 12. Gonda. 13. Marian 14. Fabiola. 15. Sheila.

Congratulations, dear Ram.  

I wish all my readers a lovely weekend with blessings.