Fresh ideas I can relate to: Ketubah Love by Toby Simon

Soul Delights Anniversary Print

I bumped into Toby on one of my etsy searches to see what new ketubah artists had emerged while I was away travelling. I was interested to see if there were any new trends emerging that would inspire me.

When I saw Toby’s “Soul Delights Anniversary Print”, I was smitten immediately. You all know how much I love patterns and fabric design. Well, here is someone, who often makes her own fabric and THEN creates beautiful fabric art compositions, with this fabric and THEN adds her own calligraphy to create magnificent ketubot. Now that is a fresh idea I can relate to! My heart was bursting!

I knew there had to be an interesting story behind this multi-talented woman. I contacted her almost immediately to congratulate her on her original work and ask her if she would be willing to be interviewed here.

I could tell right away that she was a thoughtful person. I provided my questions and she carefully crafted her answers. The resulting interview, I hope will give you an insight into the passions and process of this amazingly talented lady.

Tree of Life Ketubah

With no further adieu, may I introduce Toby Simon!

Q. Hi Toby. Let’s start from the beginning. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

A. I’m an artist in San Francisco whose creative interests range from drawing, writing calligraphy, playing the violin, and quilting. I live with my very vibrant and inquisitive daughter, Mona, and husband, Dave, whose interests are equally as eclectic as mine (everything from beer making to quilting to gardening to pickling). While my full time job is raising my daughter, I am an innately creative person and aspire to turn my art into a sustainable income.

Q. Now let’s hear about the creative part in a bit more detail. Tell us about your three passions — Judaica, calligraphy, and fabric arts.

Merging calligraphy with illustration is a really fun technique that can bring life to words and depth to an image. This tree is filled with the words “Etz Chaim” and “Chai” which I laid out to give texture to the leaves and dimension to the trunk.

This gesture of a Hannukah Menorah was painted with an old stick of mascara . I used colored pencil to strengthen the form and illuminate the image.

A. Having grown up with bits of Judaica throughout almost every room in my parents’ house, designing Jewish art was always on my radar. After graduating college I began applying my English calligraphy to a stationery business (my other Etsy shop), but still kept an eye on what Ketubah artists were doing since it was an art form that always excited me. For me, and, I would venture to guess, for many Jewish calligraphers, designing Ketubot is a natural direction to explore after discovering Hebrew calligraphy; it is a wonderful way to showcase your love for lettering.

It wasn’t until some time in ’08 that I finally decided to try my hand at illustrating and painting a Ketubah. I was not happy with the results and felt extremely discouraged. It looked forced and plain and didn’t hold a candle to what was out there. I knew the only way to compete with the countless talented artists in the field was to find my own artistic voice. It was particularly designers like Melissa Dinwiddie whose beautiful work I used as motivation to improve my own standard.

Q. But Toby, how did you dream up combining all three?

A. It wasn’t until a few years later when I discovered my knack for combining fabrics and patterns did I realize I finally had an art form worthy enough to apply to the world of Ketubot.

Combining the three elements was actually the easiest part. There’s a satisfaction we get in bottlenecking our passions into one solid direction. I had the Judaica theme to guide my new art form; A Carte Blanche aesthetic (“painting” with fabrics) with a theme I loved (Judaica art with lots of room for lettering). It was a relief.

Q. “Painting with fabrics” is a beautiful way of describing what you are doing. Are you printing your own fabric?

A. Yes, I’ve begun designing and printing my own. At the moment I mostly use ready designed fabric scraps that I’ve collected from stores, quilting festivals and over-the-hill clothing. However when I can’t find a particular pattern in my stash I will create it myself. Another reason I’ve begun designing fabrics is because it allows me continue drawing, painting, and experimenting with writing tools; skills I’ve been building since college. The drawing table is my happy place and I really don’t want to abandon it!

Written with flat edged pen fountain pen and shaded with colored pencil.  I repeated and staggered the block of letters to create this fabric

 Q. Are you willing to share your secrets? Can you tell us how you do it?

A. Sure! Designing a fabric starts with an illustration or motif that I scan and repeat in Photoshop. I then print it on my ink jet printer onto C. Jenkins Miracle Fabric Sheets. You simply feed the fabric sheet through the printer, press it with a warm iron, and then peel off the paper backing. It’s genius if you only need small swatches of patterns. I’ve also sent some prints to Spoonflower when I wanted to have a ½ or full yard.

Q. How long have you been developing this completely unique style?

A. For about two and a half years I’d say. Right before my daughter was born, my husband surprised me with a sewing machine. I’d been making him little patches by hand as birthday presents – cutting animal shapes and sewing them on hats and scarves – which took a very long time, and I think he was curious to see what I would make with a machine. I went searching for reading material on sewing basics, but then I would get sidetracked by books about patchwork and fabric collage, and I ended up delving into that art form and running with it.

Q. I imagine, I am not the first to shower you with accolades about your work. How is your work being received?

A. Thanks! I’ve gotten lots of positive feedback about how they are unique and not a style people have seen with Ketubot before. I also receive a lot of comments such as “I wish I could get married again so I could order a Ketubah from you” or “I wish I was Jewish…” For this reason I've started selling several of the designs as art prints without the Ketubah text so that anyone can enjoy them.

Tree of Life Art Print

Q. I see that your ketubot on etsy are prints of your fabric art with calligraphy overlaid. Have you ever created a fabric ketubah with hand lettered text right on the fabric? If someone wanted to commission you to do that, would it be possible?

A. Yes I’d be happy to discuss creating a commissioned Ketubah. While I probably wouldn’t write out that large a body of text directly onto a piece of fabric, I can easily scan a large body of text and print that onto a Fabric Sheet and sew that into an original quilt. To inquire about a fully commissioned Ketubah people can get in touch with me through my Etsy shop or directly through my website at www.ketubahlove.com.

Q. How do you see this developing over time? Do you see this evolving into other Judaica one of a kind pieces?

A. I do have big plans for Ketubah Love. I’m working on evolving it into a Judaica shop with fabric goodies and stationery for Jewish holidays and Simchot. Mona has just started preschool and I have a baby boy due in November, and I plan to use the time before his arrival to churn out some exciting work.

WOW! The more I learn about Toby, the more amazed I am.

To find out more about Toby and her creations, you can visit her ketubah love etsy shop, her Savor the date etsy shop and her website (where you can see actual video of her process). And if you head to, and “Like” her Facebook page you can be included in Rosh Hashanah give away to one of her new Facebook fans really soon. I recommend coming back often to check up on her. I expect great things from Toby. She is a true artist with a passion, and very high standards for herself and her work. The sky is the limit on what fresh idea she will come up with next.

Thanks Toby for sharing your story with us! And best of luck with Ketubah Love!

My pillows!

While we were still on our "unplugged journey", my friend Cyndy sent me an email telling me she had purchased two of my pillow designs as gifts for friends. When I was in Ottawa visiting Cyndy last month, I got to see one of my pillows for the first time.

I am happy to report that the quality is second to none! The fabric is wonderful and the colours are exactly as I expected them to be.

So if you were hesitant about shopping at envelop, FEAR NOT! The product is amazing and Cyndy confirms that shipping is a breeze.

Here are a couple of shots of this design on the couch. My pillows are reversible so you have two pillows in one!

Check out my full pillow collection here. And if you do buy one, please send me a picture!

Back at it!

Wow, it has been a long time.

Many of you following me here at fresh creations, know that the last year has been one filled with great adventures and amazing experiences that I have been documenting on our travel blog. During those many months trekking in Nepal, overlanding in India, and discovering South East Asia, I left the virtual shelves in my etsy shop completely empty. I couldn't really get my head around how I could keep the shop open and continue to customize my artwork. It was going to take time to figure out what the future of my shop would be if we were "unplugged" and and I was "studioless"

Surviving on the road for almost a year requires creativity — and a lot of help from family and friends to figure out how to do things at a distance, find ways online to do absolutely everything and survive without an address or phone number! It has been a real education, and for the most part completely positive. The bottom line is, there are solutions for almost everything and with a little bit of patience and only a few freak-outs, we have managed extremely well!

But back to my etsy shop ...

I missed it.
Puttering in my shop.
Interactions with my customers.
Walking to the post office every day to ship out orders.
But mostly being a part of something very meaningful. There is something terribly fulfilling about creating a piece of artwork (Ketubah) that celebrates the union of two people in love.

I know I am getting mushy, but it's the honest truth. Even with all of the amazing sights I was seeing, mountains I was climbing, museums I was visiting, experiences I was writing about, or photographs I was taking, I still missed the experience of being connected to so many weddings. I simply had to find a way to put that piece back into my life.

And I have.

I will now be able to create and customize my artwork from anywhere in the world and ship the final product to you wherever you are. As long as we both have an internet connection, we are in business! I am slowly restocking my shop with Ketubah designs and soon I hope to also add other items as well. Some will be printed items, and some will be pdf files that you print yourself.  And I guess it will continue to evolve as I do.

I am glad to be back at it and I am looking forward to hearing from you, wherever you are!

WeddingYentas.com: Miriam and Jakes wedding, including my love birds ketubah!

Photo by: Hazelnut Photography

Many of the couples I have worked with this summer, are being featured on blogs this month. Have a look at this stunning wedding featured on WeddingYentas.com – and my love birds ketubah.

Mazel Tov Miriam and Jake!

Michael and Meredith's Miami Beach Wedding: with my tree of life ketubah!

Photo by: Emily Harris Photography

While away in Europe I got a message from Style me Pretty alerting me to a wedding post including one of my ketubot. You can see the whole post here. The most beautiful couple in an awesome venue!

Mazel Tov Michael and Meredith!

100 miracles

When I opened my etsy shop in August, after more than a year of preparation (learning how and building my freshketubah website, learning about and creating this blog, reading everything I could find about opening a shop and how to promote it, creating the initial designs I would try to sell ...), I thought I was ready for whatever would happen next. But I also tried to be realistic about the experiment I was embarking upon.

When the first miracle happened the next day, and I had my first ketubah order, I had to pinch myself to be sure I wasn’t dreaming! When I finished pinching, the real panic set in, as I was completely unprepared to fill orders. I am embarrassed to say I still did not have my ketubah text options completed, shipping materials in hand or any branded forms/mailing labels or letterhead. No proofing forms or even a process in place to keep track of any of it.

In Hebrew there is a saying: “the shoemaker walks barefoot”. You would think after 20 years of creating branding and marketing material for my clients, I might have been a bit more prepared.

But you see, I had not in my wildest dreams thought I would have sales right away— or ever for that matter. And to this day, after reaching my 100th miracle sale, I am still pinching myself to be sure I am not dreaming.

It is a moment in time, when people with a dream can make miracles come true. It is a time when you can, with a bit of initiative, learn like I did, to set yourself up with an online shop, and with hard work, make a go of it. It is an amazing opportunity, which I hope I never take for granted.

So a humungous thank you to etsy for existing, and to the hundreds of people at the other end of my internet searches, who answered my questions, gave me encouragement, taught me techniques, filled the blanks in my knowledge base, and kept me moving forward. And to my 100 miracles — let me just say, you are awesome, every single one of you :)

Mazel tov all around!

Family Simcha’s are the best! Family members fly in from all corners of the country/world to spend three days and nights, dressing up (some of us are more comfortable with this than others ... ), filling our tummies with delicious Jewish food, commenting on how great we all look, and kvelling about the latest accomplishments of our children or grand children. In the middle of all of this, is the actual reason for us being together — The Wedding, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Brit Mila or Baby Naming. No matter what the Occasion is, there are always tears of joy, mazel tov’s all around, and a few extra pounds on the scale by the time all is said and done. Those of us that couldn’t make it to the event wait impatiently for the facebook updates and online slideshows. In our family — news travels so quickly — that any noteworthy tidbit makes it from Vancouver to Jerusalem and back almost simultaneously! By the time the pictures arrive we are all convinced we were actually there, even if we weren’t!

In May this year, our family was lucky enough to have two beautiful Simchas in very close succession. One in Vancouver and one in Toronto — and Marc and I were lucky enough to be able to enjoy them both first hand. In anticipation of both events, I started planning what I would make for each of the girls experiencing their rites of passage this past May. 

India Raine (Is that not the most beautiful name you have ever heard?) came into this world on December 13th 2010. I think that it is safe to say, that there is a competition going on between the parents, grandparents and super baba (India’s great grandmother), as to who can love this beautiful baby girl the most! And the rest of the extended family is not far behind. 

I set to work creating a baby naming certificate for India several months ago. I was so excited about it, that I came up with a number of ideas. The final design is pink pink pink! India’s favourite colour. Lots of pretty flowers and two happy peacocks. The final artwork was ready for her naming ceremony mid May, here in Vancouver. India, dressed in pink (of course), was a perfect lady during the proceedings, letting mommy and daddy, all of the grandparents and super baba do all of the crying! It was amazingly beautiful and meaningful. I still get teary just thinking about it. 

Less than two weeks later we were on a plane to Toronto for the next amazing family extravaganza. 

Sarah is many years past her baby naming ceremony. This year was the year for her to prepare for becoming a Bat Mitzvah. Anyone that has gone through this process, knows it is a lot of hard work. There is a whole year of study. A Torah portion and Haftorah to understand and learn how to read, and how to chant. And then a speech to write about the whole experience. And on top of everything, this all has to be performed in front of a packed Synagogue of family and friends. It seems impossible to expect this of a 12 year old ...

But I forgot to tell you that Sarah plays hockey. She is a goalie, and a really good one — She doesn't shy away from difficult tasks.

I knew I wanted to create a keepsake for Sarah that included her Torah portion and symbols of her coming of age this year. Her Torah portion is called Bamidbar, which means “in the desert”. As we all know — lots of crazy stuff went down in the 40 years our ancestors wandered in the desert. G-d didn’t have a lot of nice things to say about the experimentation, and some of that tantrum ended up in Sarah’s portion. I didn't dwell on that though — I had my own interpretation. The way I see it, everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them and to always remember who you are. So for Sarah, I incorporated the symbols of the sabbath, the Torah, and scenes of Israel with the words she studied and learned to chant so beautifully, into a keepsake that I hope will remind her of her incredible achievement becoming a Bat Mitzvah and her connection to the Jewish people. 

Like the 40 years in the desert, preparing for a Bat Mitzvah, was no picnic. But with hard work comes big rewards. The Bat Mitzvah weekend was amazing. Sarah outdid herself. If she was nervous, it didn't show for a moment. We all got to dress up and eat non-stop for three days — and — really enjoy each others company. Seeing her beaming parents and grandparents as the Bat Mitzvah girl recited her haftorah and delivered her speech at the Synagogue and later at the evening dinner party, was priceless. 

Sarah’s younger sister Chloe was the master of ceremonies for the Saturday evening party. We have a few years to wait for her turn on the Bimah — but if the previews are any indication, it will be a Simcha not to be missed! 

Mazel tov to India and Sarah and to families everywhere celebrating — and eating — and crying tears of joy!

Kibbutz celebrating 100 years

Adamit General Meeting by Barbi Bamberger

This quilt was made by my good friend Barbi Bamberger. We spent 11 years together on Kibbutz Adamit. Our son’s were born just months apart and were part of the same group from their time in the baby house through to grade school on kibbutz Eilon.

This quilt was made for a major quilt exhibit called “A Century of Kibbutz”, at Beit Gavriel located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and won an honourable mention! Yay Barbi! Her quilt depicts the weekly kibbutz meeting where we discussed and voted on all major decisions about our daily lives on the kibbutz. As you can see from her depiction, we all had different things on our minds while these big decisions were being made! The meeting took hours and was often very lively, but it also was a time for finishing knitting and quilting projects, or catching a cat nap.

As the kibbutz movement celebrates 100 years, Kibbutz Adamit celebrates it’s 40th birthday. To commemorate this, many of us will be returning to Adamit for a reunion in November. I am looking forward to seeing this quilt in person and reminiscing with old friends about the discussions that kept us up until the wee hours, the community we created together, one committee meeting at a time, the cakes we baked for aruchat arba, the nes cafe we drank in the moadon, the Shabbat meals in the communal dining room, the baby quilts made together, the apples, that were picked ... and so much more.

If you watch this video, you will see and hear about the other 55 quilts in this exhibit. It brought back great memories for me. I hope you enjoy it.

 

New offering at my shop: Wedding Guest Posters!

I have been watching the amazing growth of fingerprint trees and wedding guest book alternatives on etsy over the last year and decided it was time for a fresh approach. So I am happy to announce a new section at my shop called Wedding Guest Posters. Instead of fingerprints, I have leaves already in place for guests to sign. As I write this post, I am dreaming up other designs for wedding showers, baby showers, birthday parties ... it is endless.

Each poster is (at the moment) 13 x 19 and accommodates from 100-200 signatures depending on the design. Each poster comes with a small poster with instructions that can be framed.This message can be customized to suit each event.

The posters are printed on the same beautiful paper my ketubot are printed on - and some of them coordinate with ketubah designs which may be of interest for some of my wedding buyers.

Check it out and let me know what you think! If you want one of these for your next wedding/shower/bat/bar mitzvah, head over to my shop and send me a convo or email at naomibroudo[at]gmail[dot]com. Have fresh ideas for me? I would love to hear from you :)

Note to self: Do not seal camping equipment in a box

To say there is a lot going on in the Broudo household at the moment would be an understatement. I never thought I would be thanking Canada Post for being on strike, but the excuse to put my etsy shop on holiday couldn’t have come at a better time.

Let’s see ... besides planning our September/October car trip in the US South West, planning our November trip in Israel, organizing gear for our trek in Nepal in December, and gear for our 82 day overland trip in India, we are also moving out of our apartment, putting all of our worldly possessions in storage until we return from the 2011/2012 Broudo adventure. So — a few things going on.

Every day has it’s accomplishments as well as its surprises. Yesterday in preparation for our now weekly trip to MEC (Mountain Equipment Co op, for those of you reading that are not from BC), we bravely opened the storage locker and pulled out the box labelled “camping equipment”.

Nothing like the aroma of camping equipment that has been sealed in a box for a year! I guess it could have been worse, but we both almost fainted from the stench. Then figuring out how we would take it up the elevator, into the apartment without offending our neighbours — oh well, we are moving out so what the hell.

I immediately filled the tub with warm sudsy water, added two knapsacks, and was delighted to find that if you repeat this several times, the smell and the dirt does actually disappear! Even more remarkable is that by this morning, the bags are almost dry. kudos to quick dry technology!

Our (now clean) tent is draped over a drying rack in the living room. One knapsack is hanging from the shower and the second is drying on a rack in the tub. There is a sleeping bag drying over a chair in the kitchen. thermarests are blown up for testing.

The apartment looks like a campsite after a wild night of partying. The good news is, it doesn't smell like one anymore!