Adha m{baa}rak

Eid Al Adha is the latter of two Eid festivals celebrated by Muslims (Eid means solemn festival). Eid Al Adha, also known as Festival of Sacrifice or Greater Eid, is the most important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide. The most significant factor of this celebration is the ram.

This is to honour the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Isma’il (Ishmael) as an act of obedience to Allah (God), before Allah intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead. Therefore, Muslims celebrate this admirable act of sacrifice every year (Eid Al Adha).

Usually, after completing Salat Al Eid (Eid prayer), Muslims embrace and exchange greetings, give out gifts, and visit one another as an act of cordiality, friendliness and courtesy. Therefore, I decided to create Eid Al Adha favours that can be distributed at the mosque after performing the Eid prayers.

I did two versions of my Eid favours; both included the ram to symbolise Eid Al Adha. Some of the favour bags were filled with chocolate and others with baklava.

Version 1

Version 2

The completed favours were then placed in a basket, ready to be distributed.

Last but not least, Adha mbaarak to all...

A {Home} is Made of Love & Dreams

This entry is dedicated to my wonderful sister-in-law, Hiba, and her husband, Abdelrahman. We miss you so much... all the time...

Here is a little something that I embroidered (and framed) to thank you for your great hospitality and the amazing time we had spent together during our stay in Florida.

Hope you like it!

A Bath's Tale {Ma2sat Mamsa7a}

21 Bridal Shower Favours for Dalia/
Turkish Bath Theme {Ramallah}
Deadline, 11th November 2010

I'll start by saying that this, by far, had been my favourite project to work on!

On the 8th of November, I received the following email from Doha:

'It is my best friend's bridal shower! I need favors! The details:
Theme: Turkish Bath
Favorite Color/Color Set: gold/beige/brown
Date needed: this Thursday, 11/11/10
Quantity: 20 pcs (number to be compensated)
Venue: Ramallah! I know! It's a shock!the favors I need must be light, can be packaged in my suitcase, and most importantly can make it through to Ramallah without breaking up on my way! I know this is too much to ask! But I thought "let's give it a shot"! Call me!'

I cannot deny that I panicked when I first read this... It was the first time Doha contacts me and she seemed very eager to get something special done for her best friend... I didn't want to turn her down.

Think fast!! I seriously needed to think fast... and big! I brainstormed a few ideas in my head but needed more information to better direct my thoughts...

So I called Doha that morning and got more details on what the bridal shower will be like (a Turkish Bridal Bath in Ramallah - Palestine), what the bride is like (Dalia, the bride, is very known for her unique phrases) and what Doha's expectations where (very high!!).

The favours needed to obviously compliment the bridal shower theme: Turkish Bath. So I decided to use a few elements such as the loofah, and soap bars (ghar soap: handcrafted soap and scented vegetable soap); these all had to be in neutral earthy colours, reflecting the bride's preferred colour palette... In the meantime, Doha sent across the top Dalia phrases to include on the favours' tags!

After getting the supplies, I had to figure out the best way to combine those elements without having them look too tacky. I sliced my loofah loaf and filled those up with ghar soap bars and scented vegetable soap bars (bearing in mind that the final pieces had to be very light!).

Next, I wrapped the loofah with twine ropes and added wooden beads at the end of the ropes. I then added two tags: a generic tag written in Palestinian slang that included Dalia's name and bridal shower date; the other smaller tag came in 4 different phrases/words that Dalia was famous for (Doha's favourite happens to be "ma2sat mamsa7a", which also works perfectly with the bath theme)! Lastly, I secured the tags with mini-wooden clothespins and added bronze-coloured crystals for a final touch.

The favours turned out nicely... they fitted into the theme perfectly! Let's hope that Doha and Dalia are impressed by it! I tried!

I personally love this project... It was very challenging yet so much fun!

Blackwork Turns Brown!

I’m not sure if I had ever expressed my passion to cross stitching, but if I hadn’t then here it is: I am very passionate about embroidery; cross-stitching in particular!

I’ve been doing embroidery for as long as I can remember (probably ever since I was allowed to use a needle and thread) and I had tried out many different styles.

I recently came across blackwork embroidery (commonly known as Spanish work), which is a form of embroidery using black thread on white or off-white fabric used in England from the time of Henry VIII. I had never done blackwork embroidery before, so I decided to give it a try and create a housewarming gift for our first visit to Zeid and Suzan’s (my in-laws) new home. The only hitch was that their house colours were brown and orange, so black wasn’t going to work well; therefore, I decided to turn my blackwork embroidery design to brownwork!

I chose a blackwork design by Liz Almond (her designs were featured in The World of Cross Stitching, Issue 164). I felt that the design worked well for a housewarming gift as I liked its oriental flare.

I embroidered on an off-white linen fabric using brown and orange DMC threads (I replaced Liz's black threads with brown, and her golden threads with orange). The colours turned out great!

After completing my piece, I selected my framing options; I chose an orange inside border (to bring out the colours more) and combined it with a textured brown wooden frame that worked out perfectly as a final result.

Gladly, the piece fit-in harmoniously with their house!

An Unbaked Cake (Round 2)

After the great success of my first towel cake, I thought of repeating the project with a new style for a very special person, Auntie Intesar; one of the most thoughtful, kind and giving people I know…

I decided to create a 3-tier birthday cake, using an elegant 3-piece towel set: Face Towel (30x30cm); Hand Towel (40x70cm); Body Towel (70x140cm).

I chose a nice shade of green for the towels and combined those with stylish white organza ribbons. I added white baby roses with their vines and green leaves (fake) for decoration; and for a final touch, I topped the cake with a white candle. To finish off, I placed the cake on a fancy bronzy-gold serving plate!

Happy birthday Khalto… Hope your coming years are filled with everything you wish for and much much more.

Stinkin' Cute

Hadeel and Hareth were recently blessed with a healthy (and a very handsome) little boy, Adam...

We were looking forward to meeting their little one and so we had arranged for a visit. I wanted to prepare something special (yet personal) for when we visited... And what better idea than a diaper cake... YES, a diaper cake; and NO, it isn't edible.

Diaper cakes are actual diapers arranged in a way so they look like a cake. So I decided to take the risk; it was my first time to do one and I was worried I'd mess it up... Though fortunately, it turned out great! (see below)

I went for a typical baby blue theme: teddy bear dressed in blue, blue ruffled "it's a boy" ribbons, and a nice silver base. (click below for a more detailed view)

I made the teddy bear (used as the cake topper) embrace an adorable baby outfit (navy puppy 3-piece cardigan set) using the pants' puppy-face feet to accessorize my cake. This added a super-cute touch to the final design.

We met little Adam today and he was so stinkin' cute (masha' Allah)!

Hadeel & Hareth... May you always be surrounded by health, wealth and your three wonderful kids!

Piece of Cake

Our really good friends, Ruba & Ahmed, recently got married; so I decided to prepare a housewarming gift for them. I wanted to do it myself for a more personal touch. Well, after going through my thinking and planning phase, I thought I’d try my luck in creating my very first towel cake; I wanted it to look very wedding-ish...

So I went towel shopping yesterday... and after experimenting with all the towels in the store, I bought two large (150x85cm) creamy-coloured towels with an embedded floral pattern. These worked perfectly for what I had in mind!

I then had to decide on a colour that would add an accent to my 2-tier creamy cake. Rich carmine (deep red) was the answer! I used it in my lace ribbons and big blooming roses (fake, though they looked so real)... I also needed a base for my cake; so I got this simple (yet elegant) silver cake stand that worked perfectly with the rest of the cake style.

I was so excited to get home and start working on my first towel cake; and gladly, it was a piece of cake! The result was amazing; everything worked beautifully together… even better than I thought…

To Ruba & Ahmed… May the best of your yesterdays be the worst of your tomorrows. May your marriage bring you love, health, kids, wealth, joy… and the best of the very best…

And last but not least; learn to compromise, for as Ludwig Erhard said "A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece" *hint hint*.

An Artistaholic's Pinky Promise

Hi, my name is Noor… and I am an artistaholic (I think)…

I actually tried googling “artistaholism” and “artistaholic” but didn’t seem to find anything worth mentioning; so here I am, sharing my thoughts instead... and reaching out for help!

You see, people usually suffer artist blocks, which are a random occurrence in which one loses inspiration and motivation to do art-related stuff. But in my case, I'm always feeling overwhelmed with exciting ideas nagging in my head and haunting my nights (turning sleep into sleepless)... this generally results in me spending a lot of time researching and planning (which of course includes writing my very famous and endless to-do lists), then I would start panicking that there’s so much to do and so little time and I would probably end up doing 5% if anything at all since I’d postpone stuff to when I would hopefully have more time (which realistically never happens)!

So, and after getting all the amazing arty/crafty stuff I got, I have decided that I really need to move forward and take matters into my own hand: I need to do instead of say (or write)…

This is why, I’ll be posting new stuff soon… pinky promise!

I {HEART} Michael's

Fall 2010 /
Vacation time is over!

I’m back from the US… very excited, very revived… and so very in love!

At last, I got to personally experience and very much enjoy the one and only Michael’s… oh and don’t get me started on that… I have hopelessly fallen in love with this place!!

I made sure I visited the store whenever I possibly could in various states and branches… I would spend hours and hours going through the endless stuff they had; especially, the clearance and sale items… and every time, I had to be dragged out of there with bags and bags and bags of crafty items, tools, paper, beads, stamps, cardstock, books… whatever I could find (I had to do a lot of short-listing) and afford. You should see how long my bills were… I think I may have spent a fortune at Michael’s (gladly); but it was definitely worth every penny!

Some of my Michael's bills... couldn't find the rest!

I returned home with a big suitcase entirely filled with my new lovely crafty supplies; which I, of course, had to forcefully zip up…

So stay tuned for some brand new arts and crafts to come your way!

I love you Michael’s; and I will miss you... tremendously!

Ramadan Kareem

The AUS Alumni Assosciation - Abu Dhabi Chapter Iftar/
28th August 2010

It's the Ramadan season again... so Ramadan Kareem to all!

[Kareem literally means generous. We wish people a very generous Ramadan, since this is the month of giving generously to the poor and needy.]

Being an American University of Sharjah (AUS) alumina, with a BSc in Design Management; I was requested by the Abu Dhabi Chapter, part of the AUS Alumni Association, to design an e-card for their Alumni Iftar Event - taking place in Abu Dhabi during the Holy month of Ramadan.

When designing the card, I was tempted to use the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the most important Abu Dhabi landmark and the 8th largest mosque in the world (has the world's largest carpet and the world's largest chandelier).

The approved e-card design

Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do. ~Kahlil Gibran

Power of 3

As promised, a converse update: Daddy joins the club!

Below is a recent shot of our cute little family and our converse addiction...

Together, all the way... Converse to the Power of 3!

New Baby on the Block

60 Baby Shower Favours for Batool Jr. /
Deadline, 1st August 2010

Batool Sr., one of my very best friends, has just welcomed her first newborn niece: Batool Jr., born on 17th July 2010 @12.08am.

For this occasion, I was asked to design, craft and customize those adorable favour boxes with a "New Baby on the Block" theme!

The boxes (7x7x7cm) were each filled with a different colour candle (resembling the box colours).

A sticker with Batool Jr.'s birth date (17th July 2010) was added as a final touch; also used to seal the boxes.

Now the favours can be nicely arranged and are ready to be distributed...

Welcome to the World Batool Jr.!

Under the Sea

Once upon a time, there was an adorable little boy who was almost turning one. His name was Yousif.

Yousif, the son of Lina and Abdulrahman, was born on August 11, 2009.

And since the birthday was approaching; his Mommy and Daddy started planning for the celebration! They chose a beachy theme: Under the Sea. Now, I had to come up with matching favours...

Blue was essential of course. It symbolizes baby boys, the beach... and the summer season!

I got glass jars and customized them (Yousif’s First Birthday / August 11, 2010). I put sand (with a hint of blue) and some stones, then placed shell and starfish candles in different shades of blue, yellow and orange inside each jar (click on the images to enlarge).

I completed the favours by adding twine ropes (very beachy) with a thank you card.

Happy First Birthday Yousif!! May you celebrate many more years among your loved ones xx

Generations Overlap

I just returned from my one week vacation in Amman (Jordan) with the family.

A very important reason for my Amman trip, was so that my daughter, Salma, met her great great Grandmother Fawzeyya [yes that was 2 greats]!

You see... my great grandmother (Fawzeyya - 15 April 1927), my grandmother (Flovar - 20 May, 1948), my mother (Ghada - 13 April, 1965), me (Noor - 03 April, 1985), and my daughter (Salma - 14 June, 2009), are all the first children in each of our generations! (So far, Salma is the first and only baby in the 5th generation!)

5 Generations [left to right: Salma, Noor (me), Ghada, Flovar, Fawzeyya]

I managed to get a wonderful group photo that includes the five generations (above)... I had been wanting to do this for quite some time... such an achievement!!

A Martha Moment

After returning back home from a long and exhausting day at work, I decided to try my luck at baking cookies for the very first time.

I was tempted to do so after buying the Martha Stewart's COOKIES book over the weekend, as I couldn't stop drooling at all the yummy options there were!

I don't know if I had mentioned this before, but I am a big Martha Stewart fan. I can't but admire her endless skills and precision at doing everything from gardening to cooking to most importantly crafts!

So back to baking... I chose to try the "Biscuit Sandwich Cookies" recipe (since I had all the required ingredients and it didn't look too difficult)!

But being myself, I wanted to improvise: So instead of going for the standard shaped circles, I had used funky cookie cutters (star, heart, teddy bear, and crescent) that appealed to my sisters, Dimah (13) and Mariam (11), who were sleeping over. They, of course, enjoyed helping out in the kitchen!

The biscuits were fantastic! Salma, my 1 year old daughter, enjoyed them most! They weren't too sweet; but after filling them up with melted Galaxy chocolate... yummy yum... They couldn't taste better! Especially with tea or coffee...

Here is the final result (with the Galaxy chocolate filling). They're a bit thicker than what they're supposed to actually look like(should be ultra thin)... but nevertheless, not too bad for a first time!

A very successful Martha Moment! Bon appétit!

p.s. I also have the Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book and will be trying out some recipes soon...

Happiness Preserved

I love flowers... my favourite are tulips... roses too.

I like it how roses dry nicely - almost perfectly; allowing me to preserve my happiest memories... Flowers can always draw a smile onto my face; even when being upset, ill or at the hospital. Hence, they're associated with good times and happy moments...

I have been preserving every rose I had received since I got married (almost 3 years back); ending up with a big collection (many happy moments) which I usually keep in transparent glass vases.

Nonetheless, I wanted to find a special way to display my roses... and I found a great solution/idea!

I bought a big black box frame that perfectly matched my bedroom furniture; and I filled it up with all my roses, arranging them randomly...

Here is the final result... my happiness preserved in a frame on top of my bed...

Little Girl, Big Talent

This post is dedicated to a very talented 11 year old little girl, who happens to be my youngest sister, Mariam.

Mariam has always expressed an interest in arts and crafts; she's very creative and comes up with great innovative ideas all the time. She had developed a wonderful habit of giving out handmade gifts ever since she learnt to write and draw (she never needed an occasion to do so). I have a box full of adorable handmade cards; and so does the whole family!!

I very much admire that she's always trying new ideas and techniques (such as drawing, scrapbooking, card-making, etc...); but her recent crafts impressed me most!!

She has been experimenting a bit with jewelery-making and the results were fantastic. She learnt a technique where she draws her own designs and colours them up. The specific material she uses goes through a process that turns it into plastic (I won't disclose her secret)... She then adds beads and enhances the designs to suit different people's styles and preferences.

These are earrings I'd purchased from her... Have you noticed how much I love green?!!

Her jewellery doesn't only include earrings (which I'm absolutely in love with; I'm sure you can tell); but she also does pendants, charms, bracelets, necklaces, etc...

Also, another pair that I had purchased... Too pretty!!

Mariam, keep up the creativity and never stop dreaming; the sky is your limit... I love you xx

Bunny Love

I know...

I haven't blogged for quite some time; been super-busy with various things... but I'm back!!

[This isn't an art/craft-related blog; although food is considered to be a form of art]

Salma was recently introduced to eggs (It wasn't recommended before she had turned a year old)... Well, turns out she very much enjoys them =)

So after a long day at work yesterday, I prepared this yummy bunny-shaped egg for my little one (in attempts to create something fun and make up for the time I spend away from her)...

I actually managed to get her interest and was very impressed at her delicate technique in eating the eggs: She started off by removing the mouth (a cucumber slice) and eating it.

She then removed both eyes (one at a time: olives) and ate those too. But the funniest bit was when she attacked the bunny's face and crumbled it to pieces!!

I'm glad she enjoyed it... so did I!

R.I.P. bunny - bon appétit Salma =)

Our Lucky One

Salma’s Birthday Celebration /
18th June 2010

My little Salma had turned one on 14th June 2010; but since it was a Monday, we decided to postpone the official birthday celebration till Friday, 18th June 2010.

As mentioned in an earlier blog, I had a lot of preparation to do… choosing the theme, designing a logo/slogan, and applying it throughout! I decided to go for “our lucky one” also read as “our ducky one”. This was inspired by Salma’s nickname “battuta” literally translating to “little duckling” in English; hence, the duck theme!

I designed the invitation and sent it across to our family...

I then bought all the rubber ducks I could possibly find for decoration purposes… I had them all over the house…

And since I LOVE polka dots (especially red and white ones); I decided to add a touch of polka to the theme; complementing my actual home colours (red and white)… they worked flawlessly together…

I got Salma this lovely outfit that fit into the theme perfectly!

And a close family friend crochet those gorgeous shoes just for her!

I designed pins for everyone to put on; they all said “our lucky one”; except Salma’s which said “the lucky one”…

I also designed t-shirts for Ahmed and myself!

Not only that, I also customized water bottles…

My mum baked those yummy red velvet oreo cupcakes and I decorated them (all by myself!!)

I did these mini duck-shaped galaxy cakes…

And of course, I ordered a lovely duck-shaped cake (notice the red polka ribbon on its neck)! It tasted great!

I even designed and produced the wrapping paper to complement the theme…

I embroidered this customized duck-shaped hot water bottle cover with her birth details…

I then chose these cute mini-shot glasses and printed on them the logo I made; filling them up with red and yellow candy and wrapping them with a little red polka dot ribbon…

My wonderful husband and gorgeous daughter bought me the most beautiful flower bouquet (that ALSO worked with the theme!!)

And of course, this day would have not been perfect without our lovely family… Thank you for being part of our every day... We love you… xx

Suad, Hiba, AbdelRahman: you are always on our minds!!