Category: Wow ideas for Simple Items
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Marshmallow Tulips
The flowers were colorful and gorgeous. They piqued my interest because they were so simple and yet so beautiful. Their beauty belies the unity of the ingredients and the simplicity of their design. And, yet, these flowers transport me instantly to that special place in Jerusalem that, for me, represents unity and beauty.
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Pink Baby Carriage Cookies: Simple to Wow
For Charley’s kiddush, Davida prepared these adorable carriage cookies. They really were Simple to Wow! INGREDIENTS Hadar-Tirosh chocolate half-moon biscuits Paskesz mini Oreo cookies frosting Pink piping or frosting DIRECTIONS Using a small spatula coated with frosting, adhere two half-moon cookies together at right angles to create base of carriage. Since these cookies are double-sided, …
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DIY Sanding Sugar
Sanding sugar adds a wow to so many of my simplest desserts. While some recipes call for sanding sugar in colors that are impossible to find, others call for such minute or such immense quantity that it makes no sense to purchase. And, sanding sugar is so simple to create in exactly the hue that…
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Sukka Clouds of Glory
Sunday night is the beginning of the holiday of Sukkos, סוכות. We are preparing for the holiday in Jerusalem amid a flurry of shopping, building and cooking. To commemorate Sukkos, we constructed a temporary home called a Sukka that we use during this week-long holiday. Our Sukka is built to commemorate the protective clouds…
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A Bouquet of Cupcakes with Purpose
Davida volunteered to host a Shavuos bake sale at our home next Wednesday night, May 16th, 2018 from 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM. It comes right on the heels of Mother’s Day and right before the Jewish holiday of Shavuos. Both Mother’s Day and Shavuos are days associated with flowers, so Davida and I prepared a…
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Kate Spade Black Pink and Gold Armoire
The centerpiece of the project is her new Kate Spade inspired armoire. In its former life, it was a gorgeous antique walnut armoire owned by a lovely family in nearby Fair Lawn. I found it on CraigsList and fell in love with the vintage dovetailed drawers and lovely carving. It had such good bones and…
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Floating Gerber Daisies in Series
I am enchanted by simple floral arrangements that highlight the beauty, intricacy and detail of individual blossoms. From my very first blog post entitled It’s all about the arrangement (psst….even with last week’s roses)until now, I have advocated for using a few blossoms to create inexpensive and stunning floral arrangements.
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Simple Layered Iris Arrangement
For effective layering, use tall straight flowers for the top layer. Good choices for the top layer are tall roses, irises, allium, tulips, gladiolas, birds of paradise or lilies. For the bottom layer, use large leaves that fan out creating a base that covers the top of your floral container or vase For the middle…
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A Vinegar Pantry Tutorial
For centuries, vinegar has been valued for its health benefits. Vinegar comes in many different tastes and colors and has a wide variety of uses beyond the salad bowl.
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A Nightstand Workbench for Ju-Ju
I walk most mornings again with my friend, Linda. The hour walk goes by quickly as we share ideas, inspirations and tidbits of each other’s lives. Linda offers me lots of recipe and shopping tips and shortcuts and I cherish her sage advice. I find the walks healthy for my body and inspiring for…
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Roses in a Grid
I placed all the vases that I had collected on my kitchen table and was contemplating what to do with the flowers. When I looked down, I realized that I had inadvertently formed a beautiful, albeit haphazard collection of individual roses interspersed with submerged berries and tulip petals.
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Sheva Brochos To-Go Station
Last week, in preparation for Goldie and Tuvia’s Sheva Brochos (one of seven wedding after-parties, each with seven blessings), I purchased a large box of hamentaschen (triangular Purim pastries) to add to the Viennese table. While I was setting up, Don mentioned that we should set up a to-go station similar to those that we…
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White and Wow Wedding Arches
When Kaitlyn’s friends started to get married, we realized that there were no places in our community to rent or borrow wedding shtick (items of whimsy to adorn the wedding dancing). That left only one choice. We quickly needed to figure out how to make our own. And we did. The most popular item that…
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An arrangement of Single Roses: Simple, Upcycled and Breathtaking
Last week, I hosted Sheva Brochos (one of seven wedding after-parties, each with seven blessings) for the children of my dear friends, Andrea and Michael. The chosson (groom) and kallah (bride), Davidi and Efrat, are a gorgeous and young couple. The Sheva Brochos was hosted together with five other couples, all close friends of Andrea and Michael. Since this…
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Simple Coffee Spice Rub
I am not a coffee drinker. I just never developed a taste for coffee. To me, it tastes bitter and unpleasant. Thankfully, I wake up with enough energy that I don’t need the boost that coffee provides. Interestingly, though, I love the aroma of coffee. While the taste does not please me, the aroma of…
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A Homemade Warm Compress
I woke up earlier this week with a stiff neck that just seems to get achier. Today, the pain radiated to my shoulder and down my arm. It seems like I may have pinched a nerve. The pain and stiffness really needs some warm relief. My husband, Don, suggested that I design a microwavable compress to ease…
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Bobby’s Homemade Bubbles and Wands
Avigail and Juju are attending “Bobby Camp” and one of the favorite morning activities is playing with the water table on my front porch. After breakfast and our morning walk, when the two of them are still in pajamas, we fill up the water table and have a good and messy time playing with all the…
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DIY Nightstand Play Kitchen for JuJu
Seventeen month old Judah (or JuJu as he is sometimes called) loves to play in our play cupcake kitchen when he comes to visit us. He doesn’t have a play kitchen at home, so I decided to surprise him with his own one. My mother-in-law a’H was fond of repurposing cast-off items, so she would…
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Oil in Squirt Bottles with Free Printable Labels
For most recipes, I use one of two types of oil: extra virgin olive oil and/or canola oil. I like to buy these oils in large quantities and the containers tends to be large and unwieldy with a way-too-large pouring spout. I find it easiest to decant the oil into a small squirt bottle for easy…
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Magic Tip: Keeping the Lid on a Pot of Chicken Soup
Leah decided to spend Shabbos at Kaitlyn’s. Avigail was barely able to contain her excitement, telling everyone that “Tante Reah” was coming to visit her and would be sleeping in the bed right next to hers. Don and I were empty-nesters for Shabbos. Although it is not the first time this summer that Don and I…
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Growing Lettuce in TopSoil Bags
When Aaron was a little boy, he loved to join me in shopping for our summer annuals and vegetable plants. We would peruse the aisles of the local garden center, looking for unusual plants and interesting planting combinations and techniques. We discovered that our local nursery started some of their lettuce and leafy vegetables right…
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A Gallery Wall of Playgroup Art
Kaitlyn created a gallery wall for Avigail’s art. Two-year old Avigail is a budding artist with so many art projects and pictures to display. The gallery wall allows Kaitlyn a way to rotate all the different playgroup art that Avigail brings home from playgroup. Kaitlyn used empty old frames and sprayed them all the same color…
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At War with Weeds: A Homemade Non-Toxic Weed-Killer
Our nineteen year old son, Aaron, is our resident landscaper. Aaron has always been a budding entrepreneur and handy around the house and yard. When he was thirteen years old, he took some of the monetary gifts that he had received for his Bar Mitzvah celebration and purchased a bright red lawn tractor. He convinced…
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Wow Uses for a Simple Dish Detergent Bottle
My mother has always been the ultimate recycler, decades before recycling and upcycling became fashionable. My mother still decants oil from a large container into a clean dish detergent squirt bottle. The squirt nozzle is perfect for squirting oil onto salads, roasted vegetables and a saute pan. It keeps the oil contained and helps place the oil exactly where you…
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A Salad Bar for the Entire Week
Our family loves salads and we try to spread the love to the rest of the world. From the time that the kids were eating solids, salads became a mainstay in the Respler home. It is rare that we make the same salad twice because there are SO many options. Most recently, when I entertain,…
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Edible Ginger Candy Spoons
I love ginger in all shapes and forms. I use ginger as a spice in many dishes. I love ginger ale, candied ginger and pickled sushi ginger. Whenever we eat sushi, I become the lucky recipient of everyone’s pickled sushi ginger and I love it. I especially love ginger with my tea. For a recent…
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Mason Jar Salad with Purim Croutons: A Simple Purim Mishloach Manos Wow
Purim is coming! One of the mitzvos (commandments) unique to the Jewish holiday of Purim is to deliver gifts of food, called Mishloach Manos, to friends and family. The parameters of this mitzvah require each Jewish adult to send a minimum of two ready-to-eat-foods to at least one person. I like to send Mishloach Manos…
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Curly Scallion Garnish: Simple and Wow
Vegetable garnishes can take a plated appetizer or serving platter from simple to wow. I like to create garnishes with ordinary ingredients and tools. There are so many garnishes that can be created using simple tools that you already own. This garnish elevates a simple scallion (green onion) to a wow garnish with the use of…