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.!