CAS-ual Fridays Stamp Release blog hop Guest Design

Hello my dear friends! A couple of weeks ago I was aksed by Michele Gross, the owner of  CAS- ual Fridays Stamps company to take a part in their very first new release blog hop. Two of the new released stamp sets are Jewish sets that are not Hanukkah themed and she thought that I can use them for the release showcase. Together with those two sets I got 4 more of new released stamp sets and I used  some of them  combined with Jewish sets.

To participate in our blog hop you should start in the company blog HERE.
You can find all new stamps HERE!
There are 5 random $20 gc prizes (nobody knows from which blog!) and 1 grand prize $50 gc on the company blog.All you need to do to maybe win one of those prizes is to comment on each and every blog.
Comment close ar 11.59 April 1 st.
 And here is the full blog hop list:

Lydia Evans http://lydiaevansdesign.com/
Laurel Beard http://www.laurelbeard.org/
**Nicole Picadura http://www.scrapsandstamps.com/
Kelly Griglione http://notablenest.blogspot.com/
Jeanne Jachna http://akeptlife.blogspot.com/
Vicki Dutcher http://allidoisstamp.blogspot.com/
**Irit Shalom http://iritshalom.blogspot.com/- YOU ARE HERE!
Taheerah Atchia http://www.taheerah-atchia.com/blog/
Shona Chambers http://twinearound.blogspot.com/
Lisa Bankes-Lahiff http://lisascreativeniche.blogspot.com/
Nora Noll https://acreativetouch.blogspot.com/
Kimberly Bliss Rendino http://kimpletekreativity.blogspot.com/

If you are lost- go to the company blog and begin from there!

So now to the real thing- my projects made with the new released stamps:

I think that for those who are not familiar with Jewish traditions each and every piece needs a bit of 

explanation. I am not going to make the Jewish religion class, but just a few words about each one.

Shalom and Chag Sameach card

The sentiment means Hello and Merry Holidays, but Shalom is also Peace and my family name…

This is a totally general card that can be given for any Jewish Holiday, from New Year to Hanukkah to Sukkoth, Purim, Passover or whatever.

The sentiments were stamped with black pigmented ink (Memento Luxe ) and heat embossed with clear embossing powder (WOW! Embossing powders). I used MISTY to arrange the sentiment and to add the border stamped strip. Another border strip was stamped with Yellow pigmented ink and heat embossed with clear powder. Then I die cut three stitched circles (Die Versions) and the & sign (Sizzix) and embellished with clear stitches and washi tape. The colors are very general and fit any age group.

May the torah card

This is a card that fits the religious part of Jewish population or the second grade students who get their first Torah (Bible book) at school.

The sentiment is stamped with blue teal pigmented ink and then heat embossed with clear powder. The rectangles are die cut with Elizabeth Crafts die set. The Torah book die is non branded China made staff, but the only one that shows our Bible book. I stamped the word "Torah" again and added it as the spine title.

L'Shana Tova card

Jewish New Year is totally different from the general January 1 day. We celebrate it around September (it moves as our month is 28 days). There are two symbols that are mostly used and both are connected to the main blessing of our New Year-Let it be sweet.

So the symbols are honey and apple and we eat apple with honey the very first thing during the Holiday meal. So I made the die cut honey comb background (Cherry Lynn) and added the jar with "bead" honey and some misting. Apples are just old buttons. The sentiment is stamped with red pigmented ink and heat 

embossed. Did I mention I am an embossing addict?

Purim Sameah card

Our Purim (usually March) is very similar to Halloween. We all dress up, even the adults. We give each other sweets and the religious part is reading the book of Esther, but this is for religious people mostly.

So my card was made with a die cut mask (Die Versions) made from metal foil and inlayed into the cardstock cut. I also stamped the sentiment over the same metal foil and yes, it was heat embossed.

The background was misted and embellished with different rhinestones.

Mazel Tov on your Bat Mitzvah tag

Bat Mitzvah is actually girls 12 th Birthday.  For us this is the most important day before the wedding and we celebrate it big time: huge party, fancy dresses, present and it looks like a small wedding reception.

So I made this fancy tag in girly colors and girly style. The upper tag was stamped with three different inks and 2 border stamps and then misted to fit the general cardstock colors.

The sentiment was arranged in a different way to fit the chipboard rose circle.
I hope that you love my projects and please visit all other hop stops if you want to win on our Blog Hop!

Altered notebook tutorial with Papericious

Hello my dear crafty friends and welcome to my March Papericious tutorial.

This time I made the notebook cover with Blush collection and I made it as an old fashioned door.

The wood grain cardstock in this collection was just the perfect one to make this kind of a project and yes, my door is pink and I love it this way. (Anyway, it's just a note book to use, not a real door  of your home).

So let me show you a bit of this project and then I made a full step by step tutorial for you to use and to make the similar project.

This is how it looks from the side.

And this is how it looks from the front:

And some close- ups to the front embellishments cluster.
I made it with Papericious chipboards and paper cuts and tried to stay as flat as possible as this is a notebook to use, not the canvas for wall decoration.
The only things that are non Papericious are those metal handle and the key hole.

Step by step tutorial:
1. This is a cheap notebook with hard cover I used for this project.
You can get them in each and every office shop.

2. Cut the inside with craft knife and cover the hard cover with natural canvas. I had two 12*12'' pieces of canvas that couldn't cover the whole notebook. So I covered one side and added the second piece from the back and made this pocket that can be used to keep  some notes or a pen.

3. Cut a piece of thin chipboard that  fits the cover  size and paint it with black gesso.

4. Paint  white gesso layer over the black one.

5. Cut a wood grain pink cardstock to the cover side and glue it over another piece of thin chipboard.

6. Cut the glued cardstock into strips.
Make the frame with first 4 thin strips as shown.

7. Add more gesso inside the frame making it as a wood texture.I found that the best tool to make it is an old tooth brush  where you cut out each second row.

8.Mist the wet gesso with Crushed Shells mist to get this " kind of the old" look.
 Let it totally dry!

9. Cut more cardstock over chipboard strips and arrange the door as shown.Don't try to make it perfect: this is an " old" hand made door; kind of add any wood piece you have one.

10. Add the metal handle and the key hole.
Secure the upper vertical strip with two small brads.

11. Hand cut the cardstock pieces you want to add to your embellishment cluster.

 12. Glue the cardstock piece inside the notebook - one side over the cover and second side over the notebook pages that were cut out before we wrapped the cover.

14. Make the embellishment cluster with chipboards that were painted with black and gold acrylics.
Arrange the chipboards and the cardstock pieces as shown.
Mist the " REMEBER" title with the same mist used over gesso.
Enjoy your embellished notebook!

Papericious products used:
Blush collection


Chipboard- Heart collage

Theme chipboard- Moments

Chipboard- Bubble


Chipboard-Moroccan Lattice

Friendship tag with Scrapmatts

 My new fancy Friendship tag made with DCVW stack and a lot of Scrapmatts chipboards.
All chipboards were painted with kind of a white-grey acrylic paint as I wanted to keep the details of those chipboards.
Small Smile word chipboard was added on the top of the tag and the big Friendship sentiment chipboard was added on the bottom.
The leaves and the Bird bath were covered with clear glitter paint.
I also embellished the leaves with copper pearls as the berries.

Product Scrapmatts list:
Mens' Accessories 01 CB1201
Scrap Words 31 CB6112
Birdbaths 03 CB1203
Ornate Frames 19 CB6091
String Circles 06 Roses CB4070

Scrapmatts March layout inspiration

Hello my dear crafty friends and welcome to my March inspirational Scrapmatts post.

As always (or almost always) I made one scrapbooking page and one other  smaller project, and this time it's a fancy layered tag.

So first let me show you my Wedding scrapbook page.

Those are photos from my daughter's September wedding and I decided to keep this page with a lot of white space and to use the same photo in two different sizes.

I used two chipboard piece as my sub titles- Family and Together.
 I made the upper title cluster with a piece of gold painted Diamond Mesh and added the Family arrow and the fancy word Love painted in black.

The smaller photo was covered with the chipboard black painted frame.

The sticks chipboard piece was added under the larger photo and painted in gold paint.

Floral design chipboard that was painted in gold was added under the pink die cut flowers.

 Product list:
Sticks 02 CB5153
Circle Mesh 02 CB5129
Ornate Frame 21 CB6093
Floral design 05 CB1118
Scrap Words 32 CB6113
Assorted Words 23 CB6105
Assorted Words 28 CB6115
Diamond Mesh 03 CB5127