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